


Heavy is the head...

by JustMe_NeuerVettel



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Concert, Gen, Head Injury, Hurt Liam, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Liam-centric, Migraine, One Direction Tours, falling on stage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28054143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustMe_NeuerVettel/pseuds/JustMe_NeuerVettel
Summary: Just a little hurt and comfort, Liam-centricInspired by Liam falling into a hole and slipping down the ramp, taking out Louis as well during their show in LA a few years back:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3okD5DwdKc&list=WL&index=13- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8jRf9M3mMU&list=WL&index=12Just something I wrote for fun, not medically accurate
Relationships: Niall Horan & Zayn Malik & Liam Payne & Harry Styles & Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Heavy is the head...

It had not really been Liam’s day. He knew that when he got ready earlier that evening with the rest of the lads. Liam had tried to get dressed in his stage outfit and lost his balance while trying to slip on his jeans and face planted right to the floor. Louis and Niall had laughed at him brightly while Zayn had helped him back up. It didn’t really hurt, not physically, just his pride a little.

Really, it was not a big deal, he laughed it off and had forgotten about it two seconds later when the door opened, and they were rushed out by Lou to get their hair done. If he had known what would follow, Liam would have just refused and gone back to their tour bus. No, he probably wouldn’t have, that was not something that Liam would do, even if he knew what would happen.

The show was great, Liam felt amazing and energetic since it was the last show of the tour. It was one of their best shows and he knew the other boys felt the same, as they were all just running around and having the best time of their lives.

Liam rarely took the time, but there was a moment, right in the middle of the concert, where he had a few seconds to just look around himself, as he was standing on the ramp leading up to the next level of the stage and he observed the crowd. It was mad, just how many people were there and even though they had played tons of stadiums by now, he still got speechless sometimes and felt like his breath was taken away. He just felt so lucky and incredibly happy. Unable to contain the bubbling energy inside of him, he sprinted down the ramps and joined Niall who was just running to the other side of the stage with a wide happy grin. Niall was always happy, and Liam loved that.

Louis and Zayn were laughing and messing around with each other just a little on the other side of the stage. It was rather tame for Louis’ usual antics and Harry was in the middle of the stage, singing his heart out. Liam threw his arm around Niall, smiling as he sang and saw that Niall grinned up at him widely as well.

Liam loved his boys, and he loved their job.

One thing he did not expect was the floor to disappear out from under him just between songs near the end of the show, when he was talking to the crowd as he usually did. The lights had gone out just for a few moments like they also usually did, and Liam was getting ready to talk, walking to the front of the stage. His heart stopped for a second until he felt the floor beneath his feet again and realised what had happened. One of the platforms had descended when it was not supposed to and Liam had walked right into the hole it had created, unable to see it with the lights out.

His heart was beating wildly in his chest still, and he had trouble to focus for just a second but had to laugh himself with wide eyes. It must have looked ridiculous and Harry’s shout just confirmed it.

“I’ve fallen down a hole!” Liam called out immediately and turned towards the stage, eyes still wide. The crowd, well, the few faces he could see in the first few rows looked just as surprised as he felt as he repeated himself. While Liam kept talking to the crowd, Harry came over and pulled at him, trying to help him out only pretending to try to be useful.

Liam laughed and heaved himself out easily a few seconds later, “Jesus Christ, that was close”

His forearms hurt where he had caught himself on the floor of the stage to stop his fall unintentionally and he must have grazed his right side a little as he felt a little sting there. Liam didn’t pay much mind to it, as he sat on the stage for a moment longer, doing his job of entertaining the crowd and catching his breath for just a second. When he got up, he said, “That was mad scary”

His heart was still racing, and he actually felt a little dizzy from the adrenaline as he went on to read a few signs and Niall joked about it ending up on YouTube. Liam desperately hoped it wouldn’t as he went on to the other side of the stage and talked some more to the fans before they quickly launched into their next song Rock Me. But not before he drew some attention to Niall’s guitar skills.

As the music started, just before Harry started singing Louis got his attention and the oldest band member joked about how Liam had just fallen down the hole. Liam laughed and nodded, seemingly agreeing. Just a few seconds later, they all realised Louis had lost his microphone once again. He was looking around frantically, holding out his hand and searching for it while Harry was still singing, without Louis’ voice to back him up like he was supposed to. Liam jumped in and pointed to the side of the stage near Zayn where Louis’ microphone was laying.

After this they were back on track and though Liam still felt just the tiniest bit shaken, he was back in the game immediately. Running around and singing, unable to escape the water fight, Louis dragged him into during the next three songs. As the end of the show neared, things got crazier and wilder than before, especially when the boys from their band joined in on the fun.

Somehow there was a fire extinguisher involved and suddenly, Liam who had an idea ran backstage to grab a box of Lucky Charms just to get their band back. When he returned, he saw how Louis was just emptying a bottle of water over their drummer’s head. Liam quickly ran over and emptied the box of Lucky Charms over Josh, and their bassist, Sandy as well. Somehow Louis got his hands on the fire extinguisher and from there on it only went further south, or up, depending on how you see it, Liam supposed as he laughed when Josh started running away from them. Niall was doing his speech, but Liam wasn’t paying attention as he just tried to find some more water as Josh had tried to spray some water on him as well and Louis yelled at him excitedly to follow. Liam didn’t immediately do so, making sure to properly douse Sandy as well before joining Louis and they both giggled as they ran over to where Josh was hiding and running up the ramps.

“Go! Go! Get him!” Louis shouted excitedly as Liam slowly made his way up the ramp, taking slow steps as the stage was slippery as heck and he tried to make out Josh in the dim lights at the top of the stage. Before he knew it, Josh had a bottle as well and was aiming it at him. Quickly retreating, Liam turned around and ran down the ramps. The water from above didn’t help the slipperiness and suddenly, for the second time that day, Liam felt himself falling. This time the floor didn’t give out and he didn’t land on his feet. No, his feet slipped on the ramp, flinging him down the steep ramp and sending him right into Louis who let out a surprised yelp, going down as well and landing halfway on top of Liam’s leg.

It happened so fast, but Liam felt his hat flip off his head as it hit the stage with a thump and all air was knocked out of him painfully. For a second, Liam felt nothing but pain in his lungs, his back and head, before he managed to draw in a breath, his back coming off the floor in a painful arch. In the meantime Louis had managed to pull himself back up, still shocked at what had happened and while Liam was writhing on the floor, trying to suck in one breath after the other painfully, he just emptied another water bottle all over Liam, mostly his crotch area though, because it was Louis.

Liam saw Louis standing over him and while he was acting as if it was a joke his face was a little worried.

“Are you alright?”

Liam pulled his arm over his face as he said, “Yeah, fine, just, a second”

At the same time something pink was thrown at him and it landed on his upper body as a second face appeared, Dan, their guitarist. He also looked worried and Liam definitely needed to get his shit together. That was not the first time either of them had fallen on stage and it wouldn’t be the last.

Liam quickly sat up before his body decided to hurt more and Dan placed his hat back where it belonged as Liam gave a quick thumbs up to the fans who he knew were always watching and he had stayed down for way too long anyway. Liam took a second to look down at himself and check himself. His head was throbbing painfully as was his back and side making Liam shortly wonder why before getting back up to his feet again.

Niall was luckily still talking. Zayn shortly checked in with him and while Liam assured him, he was alright, Liam realised he did not have a microphone. Since when did he turn into Louis? This couldn’t be happening twice in one night, could it? Well, the last shows of their tours were always a little messy.

The crew was quick, though and handed him one and before he knew it, their last song of the night was starting and Liam was back running across the stage, dancing with Niall and giving everything. He still felt a twinge as he messed around with Niall but that was just from the fall, he was definitely fine, Liam told himself as he launched himself to the other side of the stage.

Liam and Louis already were drenched to the bone, but Louis of course had to make the whole band suffer with him in the cold air and sprayed them with some more water just for the fun of it. Liam hissed, surprised as he had not seen it coming and really hoped that was the last time that night, that his heart would feel like it would spring out of his chest.

The first time, Liam felt like he might not be completely fine after all the falls he took, was when he felt just the slightest moment of dizziness bending over for their last bow. They did their usual encore and somehow Louis managed to steal his hat once again. When they all went in for one last group hug on stage to finish off the tour like they began it, together, Liam actually gasped in pain at being gripped too tight as they all started jumping around.

He didn’t let the little sting in his side stop him from diving right into the hole on the floor after Louis. Still had to fight Louis to get his hat back, of course. The immediate regret he felt was definitely not worth it, though.

The wind was knocked out of him for the second time that night, even though he had landed safely and soft as always. Paul, their security guard was standing off to the side and Louis was not far away, frowning when he heard Liam gasp in pain and stay where he was instead of jumping right up again as usual.

“That hurt” Liam commented confusedly as he slowly sat up and a little shakily got to his feet. Paul already held out a hand and helped him get up, looking genuinely concerned.

“Quite the fall you took there! Are you hurt?” Paul asked him and Liam shook his head. He genuinely didn’t think he was hurt.

While Zayn and Harry had not been far off the whole time, Niall only just now joined them beneath the stage and they quickly made their way through the little labyrinth until they were backstage. By then, Liam was definitely sure that something was wrong. His side was not only stinging a little, it was burning awfully as his head was pounding forcefully, making his eyes water and the world around him spin a little. Maybe he was hurt.

While the tour might be over tonight, there were still things for them to do during the next few days. They had a few award shows lined up in between a little press tour to promote their new, not even fully finished album. For these reasons they were not going back to the tour bus that night but were immediately ushered into a car and driven to the hotel where all of their bags already were.

Without really a second to breathe until the car started rolling, Liam didn’t tell anyone that he was not feeling that well. It probably wasn’t a big deal. He was just exhausted and maybe a little sore. He’s had headaches before, and it would probably go away. So, he just tried to ignore the fact that Louis’ and Niall’s loud yelling and shouting were shooting hot white waves of pain through his skull and laughed through it with them as they were still high on adrenaline and too pumped up to settle down, like Zayn and Harry were. Zayn was already halfway to sleep, his head tilted back, and eyes closed as Harry was checking his phone, seemingly calmer than any of the others that were awake.

Back at the hotel, Louis suddenly seemed a lot less aggressive and energetic as he held Niall back when the rest of them climbed out of the car and followed Paul inside. Liam could hear both of them whispering as they were in the elevator and he was surprised when instead of only Niall following him into the hotel room they were supposed to share, Louis appeared just a minute later, holding his bag. While Liam had been busy walking straight and keeping it together, Louis must have gotten his stuff out of the room him and Harry were supposed to share.

Without any word to a confused looking Liam, Niall grabbed his own stuff and left the room, calling out loudly for Harry as the door fell closed behind him.

“What is going on?” Liam mumbled as he grabbed his own bag of the floor, gingerly leaning down and pressing his eyes closed with a wince.

“Quite the fall you took. You mind if I stay to make sure you are alright?” Louis nonchalantly asked, fishing out some things out of his bed as well.

“You don’t need to, I’m fine” Liam frowned, still confused.

“Your face says otherwise, love” Louis just laughed, “How are you feeling, seriously now?”

“I need a shower” Liam simply stated, heading to the bathroom with a little shake of his head and roll of his eyes. He really didn’t need a babysitter, he thought to himself as he closed the door and immediately tried to get out of the wet white shirt still clinging to him. It was cold and uncomfortable. The second he pulled it over his head and mostly by accident looked into the bathroom mirror, he wished he hadn’t. His stomach churned uncomfortably, and he felt nauseous. There was a deep long gash on his right side, running from just above his hip up over the side of his ribs and almost all the way up until under his arm. It was weeping blood steadily and quite frankly looked like something out of a horror movie.

Unable to look away, Liam froze, his eyes widening and face paling as he worked on keeping the contents of his stomach inside of him. When he felt like he could open his mouth again, all he could say was, “Louis!”

It was barely above a whisper and Liam knew it was pathetic, but he had to pull himself together to shout for his friend another time. He didn’t know what to do, feeling overwhelmed and now that he was seeing all the blood and the injury, he also felt the pain settling in. His stomach did another flip as the door to the bathroom opened and Louis stalked in, “What? Need help showering… holy shit”

Liam looked at him with wide eyes, feeling the tears well up in them and trying desperately to hold on. It just didn’t look good and Liam felt himself starting to panic, as he said, in the same low tone as before, “Louis”

Louis immediately rushed forward, his expression changing from shock to determination and a soft comforting smile, “You are okay, Liam, we’ll take care of you, don’t worry. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t… know… thought… jus’ a scratch” Liam mumbled out, his eyes going back to the mirror which definitely was a mistake as he could not stop himself from throwing up this time. He barely managed to take the few steps to the side to throw up into the bathroom, groaning, “Oh god… oh god”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, calm down, Liam. You are going to be fine. Take a deep breath and don’t look at it again” Louis was immediately there, hand on his back. The older boy could feel his friend trembling as he threw up violently a few times with pained gasps following. Once he was sure Liam was done, he got him to sit down inside the hotel room on the bed, pressing one of the clean towels against his side gently, ignoring the pained hisses and groans, “Sorry, love, you’re bleeding quite a lot”

“Keep a hold of that for a moment, Liam, come on, you are alright. Just like that and don’t forget to breathe again” Louis told him, and once Liam had his shaky hands over the towel he let go and rushed to the bedside table where he had dropped his phone earlier. He tried calling Paul immediately, but he didn’t pick up, so his next try was Zayn.

“The answer is no” Zayn grumbled tiredly into the phone and was ready to hang up straight away again, but Louis called out a little panicked, “No! Find Paul! Liam’s hurt!”

“Wha’?” Zayn’s voice suddenly sounded a lot sharper and Louis could hear shuffling in the background.

“Liam has a really bad gash on his side. I need Paul to come here now but he’s not answering his phone” Louis explained.

“Shit” Zayn said, “I’m on my way to see if I can find him. What happened?”

“Must have happened sometime tonight. He didn’t even see it until he was about to shower” Louis explained, glancing back at Liam who was still sitting shell shocked and pale on the bed in the exact same position Louis had left him in. The way Liam was acting actually scared Louis a little.

“But you said you were worried because he hit his head?” Zayn seemed confused.

“I was! Just- Liam, breathe, remember, you are okay” Louis was observing Liam, still worried and interrupted himself to make sure, Liam was not going to just throw up again.

“He threw up as well, maybe he has a concussion or he got freaked out by the blood” Louis added thoughtfully, just as he heard Zayn loudly call out, “Paul! Paul!”

After that only the beep that signalled that Zayn had hung up on him was heard. It didn’t take more than a few minutes after their call for the hotel room door to open and Paul and Zayn rushed in. Another security guard of theirs, Andy, was waiting just outside.

“What is going on?” Paul immediately asked, kneeling down in front of Liam and gently prying Louis’ and Liam’s hands from the towel to look at the wound. He only needed a little glance before returning the towel and nodding at Louis, “You did good. We are going to the hospital”

“No! What? No!” Liam suddenly called out, looking panicked.

“Yes, you are, Liam, that needs stitches” Paul sternly told him, “Louis, keep a hold on this”

Louis held the towel against Liam’s side as Paul gently grabbed Liam’s arms, holding the panicking boy steady as he looked him in the eyes, “Liam, you are hurt and need to let a professional look at this. Look at me for a moment, Liam, hey, come on, look at me… great, you definitely have a concussion. We are going. Now!”

“What is going on?” Niall’s voice sounded higher than usual and a little panicked as him and Harry stumbled into the room.

“Liam got hurt and needs to go to the hospital” Paul calmly said, letting go of Liam who still was a little too shocked and slow to do much but stare after the man who got up and went to his bag.

“I want you to go back to your rooms now. We need to keep this under wraps as much as possible” Paul further explained as he got Liam to shrug into a jacket and made him hold the towel against his side on his own. Of course, all four of the other boys protested immediately, wanting to come along.

“No!” Paul sternly called out, “Andy, get them back to their room, now! Louis you can come along, keep Liam from freaking out, please!”

By the time Andy got them all to leave the room, Harry and Niall were crying while Zayn was still protesting vehemently. Paul was leading a shaky Liam to the door and Louis went ahead, grabbing his bandmate, “Zayn, seriously, you need to stay with Niall and Harry. They are going to freak out if we leave them alone!”

Zayn took a glance at their youngest band members who obviously looked scared and nodded with a disappointed sigh, “Text me as soon as you know something”

Then he threw his arm around Niall and Harry, leading them back to their room and following them inside. By the time Paul had gotten Liam and Louis into a car, Liam was not only trembling a little, he was full on shaking, his eyes glassed over and unfocused. It was unusual for Liam to be anything but sharp and focused which freaked Louis out a little as he was unable to let go of him for the whole car ride.

Paul spent most of the car ride on the phone as he was driving and occasionally turned around to check on the two boys in the back. Meanwhile Louis was trying to keep Liam talking to him, worried that if he stopped he either would pass out or throw up again.

“Tell me how you are feeling, Li, come on” he softly urged Liam, his arm around his friend’s lower back as he talked.

“Don’t… feel so good” Liam simply said.

“Are you going to be sick again?”

“Dunno… head hurts” Liam replied with a little shrug, wincing immediately afterwards.

“Yeah, you hit your head… let me just…” Louis turned a little further towards Liam and gently moved his hand over the back of Liam’s head. Liam flinched violently and let out a soft shout of pain before Louis even realised that he touched a giant bump on the back of Liam’s head.

“Ah, that must hurt” Louis mumbled, “Paul, he has a really big bump where he hit his head”

“Stop touching it” Liam whimpered, moving his head away from Louis with a grimace, “Feel sick”

“I’m sorry, do we need to stop?” Louis asked alarmed, pulling back and Liam shrugged again.

“We are almost there, boys” Paul called from the front, having heard their conversation, “How are you doing, Liam?”

“Wanna go home” Liam mumbled, letting his eyes fall closed for just a moment.

Neither Paul nor Louis said anything, but Louis knew that Liam must feel horrible if he was willing to admit this. It was not often that Liam got home sick or expressed his feelings. Fortunately they were almost there and Paul parked the car soon after. He led Liam and Louis through the parking lot to the front desk, “Try not to be obvious and keep your heads down”

It took just a moment until they had the attention of the nurse on the front desk and Paul said, “Hi, I called ahead a few minutes ago for Liam Payne”

“Oh, of course, yes” the young man who was managing the front desk immediately looked up with wide eyes, “You talked to my boss, follow me, please”

He quickly slid out from behind the desk and led the three of them away, “It might be a while for you to be seen, but we can definitely get you a private room until then”

“Thank you” Paul smiled, “I could keep them safe, but I don’t think it’s in either of our interest to have the hallways filled with fans and paparazzi any time soon”

“Exactly” the young man smiled, opening a door for them, “Here it is, someone will be with you as soon as possible. But could you tell me what happened?”

He had turned to Liam smiling softly but Liam just looked at him for a moment, not sure where to start.

“He fell on stage and hit his head and he has a really bad gash on his side that I don’t know where it came from” Louis explained, looking worried.

“Alright, Liam, do you know where you got it and can you let me take a look?”

Liam frowned, but slowly opened his jacket and showed the nurse the gash, “Fell into… hole… the platform was down”

“Ah, right!” Louis called out, remembering it now.

“How did you hit your head and do this at the same time?” the nurse seemed a little confused.

“Well, he stepped into a hole at first and later he slipped down the ramp because Josh got it wet” Louis explained, then smirked, “And technically he face planted before the show as well”

Liam groaned a little embarrassed as the nurse told him to keep the towel against his side.

“I’ll be right back with the doctor since this definitely needs stitches” the nurse smiled gently.

The man was only gone for a few minutes before he returned but Liam was not sitting up and looking pale as he was before. He was leaning over a trash can which Louis was holding and throwing up again.

A middle aged doctor entered the room behind the nurse and grimaced a little, turning to his colleague, “You said concussion, right?”

The nurse nodded and the doctor waited until Liam was done before checking him over. It was anything but comfortable as lights were shone in Liam’s eyes and about a hundred questions were asked. Louis luckily hadn’t moved far after handing off the dirty trash can to the nurse and had kept his hand on Liam’s back comfortingly.

“Alright, let’s get some ice for your head for now. We will run some tests later just to make sure everything is alright with the concussion. For now we are going to take care of your side. Brian will start an IV with some fluids and pain meds before I will stitch it up. Have you had stitches before?”

Liam nodded slowly, though his eyes were wide with fear and he subconsciously moved away a little, “D-do you… have to…?”

The man chuckled a little as the nurse, who was called Brian apparently, prepared everything, “Yes, I’m sorry, but it is necessary. I promise you won’t feel a thing and I’ll be really quick. I’ll be back in a few minutes”

“Why don’t you lie down now, Liam” Brian was there the second the doctor had stood up and together with Louis moved to lie Liam down. He also was holding an ice pack which he slipped under his head carefully. Liam still winced in pain as he was moved and Louis had never seen him this pale before. Not even when he had caught the flu during tour last year and only managed the concert because he had been pumped full of meds all night.

It was a little worrying and while Louis knew Liam had a rather painful hospital history and was not too fond of doctors, he had never seen him react the way he did tonight. But he also had never seen either of the boys this injured… and concussions sometimes made people act weird.

Brian quickly worked on him, getting an IV started and then gently started preparing Liam’s side. It was still painful as the meds were not working yet and Louis scolded Liam, “Don’t look at it, you are just going to make yourself sick again”

Liam sighed, but did look away. He was already feeling nauseous again and Louis was right, but at the same time he didn’t like not knowing what was going on. Louis was great at distracting him, though, as he kept talking to him, even when the doctor returned and when Liam flinched the second he started, Louis grabbed his hand comfortingly. He kept his voice light and happy and Liam was more than grateful to have Louis by his side, keeping him grounded, even when he started panicking and when the pain did not fully go away with the pain meds.

Liam was blinking heavily and a little confused up at Louis by the time they were finished. Brian helped Liam sit up a little, “Slowly, tell me if you feel any dizziness at all”

“D-dizzy… whole time” Liam mumbled with a frown.

“Tell me if it gets worse” Brian chuckled.

“S worse” Liam replied, still looking rather confused as he tried to lean further forward, “Go home?”

“No, Liam, not yet” Brian replied a little amusedly.

Louis was not as amused, but more worried, “Is that normal? He’s really out of it”

“Yeah, the concussion, blood loss and like you said, squeamishness from all the blood… there are enough reasons for him to be a little confused” Brian said, “I’m taking him to get some scans now, though, you can wait here”

“No” Liam protested as Brian tried to get him up to his feet.

“Yes” Brian said, gently but firmly sitting Liam down in a wheelchair.

“Louis” Liam said, blinking at his friend pleadingly.

“Can I come along?” Louis asked Brian and Liam immediately seemed happier, letting out a little sigh.

It did take a little convincing but soon Louis was pushing Liam’s chair and accompanied him to all the tests he had to go through. Afterwards they were put in a new room, with Brian explaining, “There you go. We are keeping you tonight for observation”

Liam didn’t even protest or react to that, just let himself fall into the bed, only letting out a wince when his head hit the pillow and Louis chuckled a little when Liam passed out just seconds later. Brian finished getting him settled and glanced at his watch, “If you need anything, just call for one of us. The doctor will be here to talk to you in the morning, well, in a few hours, so try and get some rest.”

Louis nodded thankfully, pulling up a chair next to Liam and sitting down as they were left alone. He took the time to snap a picture of Liam to send to Zayn with an update as Paul entered, looking worried, “Hey, he sleeping?”

Louis nodded, “Just texted Zayn”

“I talked to management, they agreed to let the other three handle the interviews today” Paul explained.

“Well, that is going to be a mess. They didn’t sleep either”

“You can be glad I got you out of it” Paul just shrugged, “Paddy will bring some things for both of you in the morning to get changed into. We are going to assume that they will release him tomorrow for now”

“Yeah, hopefully” Louis nodded, “Are they going to put some statement out or do we need to say something?”

“Simon already called Zayn, they’ll explain it in the radio interview” Paul said, “Do you want to call his family? They should know before stories are made up in the press again”

“Yeah, I’ll call his sisters first” Louis nodded and glanced at his watch, “What time is it there right now?”

“They should be awake already” Paul told him, “I’m going to get some coffee, you want some as well?”

Louis nodded and Paul left the room again. Ruth sounded still half asleep and confused as she answered the phone.

“Hey, Ruth, it’s Louis, did I wake you?”

“Louis? Yes, why are you calling me?” Ruth sounded confused and Louis could also hear the slight concern in her voice.

“Liam got a little hurt tonight” Louis started carefully.

“What?!” Ruth definitely was awake now.

“He’s okay, he’s sleeping now, but we had to go to the hospital because he fell and got a concussion and had a gash on his side that needed stitches” Louis explained.

“Shit, he fell? How?”

Louis retold the events of that evening to Liam’s sister who seemed seriously concerned for her little brother. She worried, of course she did and Louis could definitely relate to that.

“I promise I’ll send you a picture and get him to call you when he wakes up again. Do you want to call your mum or should I?” Louis said, “It will be in the news soon, though”

“I’m going over there right now” Ruth promised, “And I need to call Nicola. They might want to talk to you, though”

“Sure, might have to try a few times if I fall asleep, but I can do that” Louis told her.

“Of course, thank you, Louis, seriously, for taking care of him” Ruth said sounding genuinely thankful. After that the both of them hung up.

Louis and Paul sat in Liam’s hospital room for a while, drinking coffee and just waiting for something to happen. Karen called as expected about half an hour later and Louis had to repeat everything he had told Ruth again. While she did not receive any new information, it must have helped in calming her down a little.

Only about an hour later, Zayn was calling him as well, but Niall was talking when he answered.

“How is Liam?” the younger boy asked worriedly.

“We are about to go on air” Harry yelled a little further away.

“He’s still sleeping, so I think he is fine” Louis explained.

“You only think?” Zayn’s low voice sounded almost angry as he spoke up this time and Louis was a little amused at how protective they all were over Liam.

“Yes, I’m not going to wake him just to ask him how he is feeling” Louis told him.

“What are we supposed to tell the fans if we don’t even know how he is!?” Harry was yelling again and Louis winced.

“Just say what you were told to say”

“But it’s stupid” Niall exclaimed.

“Then say what you think!” Louis sighed, “Seriously, can you please just figure this out on your own? I am too tired for this!”

“Sorry, of course, we’ll figure it out, just text us as soon as he is awake” Zayn sounded apologetic, “We can take care of these interviews”

“Thank you, call me afterwards and tell me how it went” Louis told them and soon they were sitting in silence again.

Louis must have fallen asleep at some point because the next time he woke up there was a lot of commotion going on around him. There were two nurses in the room, neither of them were Brian Louis realised sadly and Paul was standing next to Liam’s bed, talking to him softly.

At that moment, Louis realised that Liam was awake and he was not feeling well seemingly.

“Liam” Louis called out softly and jumped to his feet, walking up to Paul who tried to comfort Liam who was curled up on his side, breathing heavily and whimpering in pain.

“Be quiet” Paul told him in a whisper, “He has a headache and woke up throwing up”

“Shit, Liam” Louis whispered, reaching out to grab his friend’s hand. In the meantime the nurses who apparently had cleaned up a little were administering some pain meds as one of them left.

“Liam, we need to check your side” the nurse gently said and made Liam lie on his back, ignoring his pained gasp as he straightened out. She peeled back the bandage and even Louis could see that something was wrong.

“We are going to wait until the meds are working, then we need to redo some of these stitches” she informed them gently and Louis could see Liam flinch at that, pressing his eyes closed again.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes”

“What happened?” Louis asked, glancing at Paul still feeling completely out of the loop, “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I was busy calling the nurses once he woke up crying and throwing up” Paul softly said, taking a step back and sitting back down in the seat he had been occupying previously.

Louis sat down on the edge of the bed and gently stroked his thumb over the back of Liam’s hand, “Li?”

Liam just let out a whimper, his eyes still pressed together with a few tears running down his cheeks. Louis reached up with his free hand and wiped them away, whispering, “The headache that bad?”

Liam made a soft sound that Louis interpreted as a confirmation. He had never seen his friend cry from pain and that was scary. Niall or Harry were another thing, they were open with their feelings and cried when they felt overwhelmed or scared or were in pain. It didn’t matter to them, but there were only a few times where he had seen Liam cry before. The first time was after the breakup with Danielle. Liam had been devastated but after two days of moping around and a few hours of going between crying and getting angry he was back to his old self. The other time was after his grandfather had passed away while they were on tour in Australia. Even then Liam didn’t cry much, he wasn’t hurt like he was with Danielle, he just was extremely sad and quiet.

It was different now. Liam was not upset or scared, really, he was just in pain and later they were told that it was a migraine that was triggered by the concussion. After his side was taken care of, Liam spent the next few hours in agony, the meds only doing so much as any noise and sound worsened it. He threw up once more during the morning and then, around lunch time fell into a restless sleep.

“We are keeping him another night for observation” Louis was told later that day after Paul had left and Paddy had dropped in with clothes for both of them and lunch for Louis. He had talked to Zayn just a few moments ago, but quickly called him back again, worriedly.

“He needs to stay another night”

“What? Why?” Zayn was whispering.

“Where are you?” Louis asked suspiciously.

“We are kind of in the middle of an interview?” Zayn replied sounding unsure.

“Shit, get back to it. Because of the concussion, the migraine is still really bad” Louis explained, “Talk to you later”

“Yeah, sorry” Zayn said, hanging up sadly as he returned to the other side of the room where they were just doing another radio show which was why he had been able to step away for a moment with Niall and Harry covering for him.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked in a not so subtle whisper and Niall also looked at him expectantly. Zayn shook his head slowly and they went back to answering the questions but as soon as they were off air, with a song playing between the interviews, Niall and Harry were on him with questions.

“Nothing is wrong, Liam just needs to stay another night” Zayn simply explained, glancing around at all the people in the room. It was weird how he knew they were all listening in.

“Seriously, why?” Niall whined.

“That’s stupid, he’s fine, isn’t he?”

“Just a precaution for the concussion, of course he is fine” Zayn told Harry with a shake of his head.

“It’s the migraine thing Louis mentioned earlier, isn’t it?” Harry now said defeated, “Do we have to do the press tomorrow without him as well? What about Louis?”

“Can we go there later?” Niall wanted to know as well and Zayn felt a little overwhelmed at all the questions. How was he supposed to know what was going on?

“We need to talk to Lou first, I have no idea” Zayn simply said, evading the questions.

“Why?” Niall asked with a frown, “Didn’t you talk to Simon yet?”

“No! Lou just told me! That’s Liam’s job usually. I don’t know who to call first and what to ask” Zayn called out, feeling a little under pressure.

“Oh man… we need Liam back” Harry sighed just as they were told that they were back on air in a few seconds.

The three boys had a few more things to do before their day finally was over and they begged Andy who was with them to take them to the hospital instead of the hotel. They were met with Paddy outside the hospital room, smiling at them encouragingly as they entered. Zayn had opened the door and let Niall and Harry walk in first.

Louis was sitting up on the bed, leaning against the headrest with Liam on his left side pressed against him, face hidden in Louis’ stomach. The older boy was holding a wet cloth against Liam’s forehead and had his other arm around his back while Liam had his right arm thrown over his waist, eyes closed but body tense and face pale.

“Be quiet” Louis whispered in their direction, his expression soft and worried as he moved his hand up and down Liam’s back. Liam didn’t move a limb as they slowly walked closer, feeling suddenly like they were intruding and Louis actually had to tell them, “You can sit down, come on”

Niall and Harry sat down on the chairs that were at the window side of the bed, facing Liam and Zayn stood behind them, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, looking worried.

Louis smiled a little at them, “The meds are finally starting to work a little. His headache is getting better”

“Is he sleeping?” Harry whispered, glancing at Liam worriedly.

Louis shook his head, “Just resting, he is a little out of it with all the meds”

“I thought he was okay” Niall said, sounding suddenly upset, his lip quivering, he gestured at Liam, “That’s not okay”

His voice had rose a little at the end of the sentence with emotion and Liam whimpered against the noise. Louis hushed him immediately as Zayn scolded Niall, “Quiet, Niall”

“Sorry” Niall replied, feeling horrible at having caused Liam pain.

“Did you talk to Paul yet?” Louis asked, keeping his voice low again as he was met with synchronised headshakes, “He managed to convince Simon to give us all tomorrow morning off. We only need to do the TV show”

“Thank god” Zayn muttered, “I didn’t know who to ask about that”

“Yeah, Paul took care of everything” Louis nodded looking just as grateful, “You can go back to the hotel, there won’t be much happening here. You are probably tired”

“I don’t want to go” Harry said quickly, looking alarmed and Niall nodded as well.

“You have to be quiet” Louis told them warningly but agreed to let them stay.

Andy and Paul got them some dinner later that evening and they resolved to play some card game, Niall had managed to find in the hospital shop. Nurses came in and out of the room to wake up Liam and to check his vitals a few times. Each time, Liam seemed completely miserable and barely aware of what was going on around him, which worried all of his bandmates.

Once visitation hours were over, a little discussion started. Neither of the boys wanted to leave but the nurses were only willing to let one of them stay with Liam.

“It’s unfair, you were here last night!” Zayn said grumpily as he glared at Louis.

“Yes, which is why I am staying now” Louis replied, “I’m not making him move now and you had interviews all day. You need to sleep”

It went on like this for a while longer, until Liam started to slowly wake up and the boys blamed each other. In the end Paul decided and said Louis was staying since Liam already was more or less asleep on him and they were not going to move him over their little fight.

Zayn was not happy with that and he let his opinion be known all the way back to the hotel until Harry snapped at him. Breakfast next morning was a quiet affair between the three boys. They were surprised, though, when they entered the hospital room again and Liam was sitting up, eating his own breakfast and Louis was on a chair next to the bed, talking to him.

“Liam!” Harry called out happily and rushed over, “You are awake!”

Liam smiled a little at him and nodded slowly. He was still horribly pale and sitting hunched over. The dark circles under his eyes and sluggish movements could not be misses as well. When Zayn walked over he could see that Liam was still not feeling that great even if it was better than last night. His eyes said just as much, especially when he held out his hand alarmingly when their youngest band members tried to hug him.

“Come over here on this side” Louis commented, seeing the hurt in their eyes, “Don’t want to rip his stitches open again”

Harry and Niall walked to the other side of the bed and gave Liam a gentle hug as Zayn once again stood back, only moving forward when Liam looked up at him questioningly and then quickly let his eyes drop down sadly.

“You are stupid, Li” Zayn sighed as he pulled back, “We were really worried”

“I’m sorry?” Liam asked softly.

“You did nothing wrong, love, no need to apologise” Louis intercepted immediately, glaring at Zayn.

After that they fell into a slight conversation about the last day, with Zayn, Niall and Harry filling in the other two and explaining what had happened. They were interrupted by the doctor that send them all outside for a while and when they were let back in told them that Liam would be released in a little while, “No strenuous activities for the next two days at least, that includes physical and mental exertion. I want you to rest as much as possible. You’ll have a headache for a while which is normal and you can take some pain meds for it but come back or call your doctor if any of the symptoms dramatically worsen. Do not get your stitches wet for another day as well. No heavy lifting for the next two weeks and the stitches should dissolve within that time as well”

“That’s a lot to do” Niall said worriedly.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got it” Zayn nodded at Louis as he assured Niall.

The doctor went on to explain a few more things and soon after the nurses came in and released Liam. Zayn helped Liam get dressed as he could not bend down with the stitches on his side without hurting and while he was embarrassed, he couldn’t do anything but let him help.

Harry was the happiest when Liam agreed to let him push the wheelchair, so Liam didn’t complain, even when he felt like he was on a roller coaster half of the time. It wasn’t that bad until they left the hospital which had been peaceful and calm compared to the streets of the city. Everything was loud and so awfully bright that Liam had to wince, his head protesting against all the input and he leant forward resting his forehead in his hands until they finally were at the car.

The car ride was quick and by the time they made it back to the hotel rooms, Liam was tired again. Without any protests he climbed into the bed as Louis told him to get some rest and fought a little with the blanket uncoordinatedly until Harry helped him sort it out thankfully.

Before he fell asleep, he heard Paul talking to his bandmates and faintly thought he should participate in the conversation. It was probably important.

When he woke back up again, the faint pounding in his head was still there, but he felt the best since he had been admitted and sat up with only a little wince as his side stung at the movement.

“Hey there, sleepy head” Louis’ voice was right next to him and Liam smiled as he turned his head and saw all four of his friends next to him. Louis was sitting up against the headboard with Harry leaning against him and opposite them were Zayn and Niall. They were playing a board game and looking at him expectantly.

“Hey” he simply replied, letting himself fall backwards against the headboard with a sigh. His whole body felt kind of sore.

“How are you feeling?” Zayn asked gently.

“My head’s a lot better” Liam replied taking the time to assert himself. After a moment he slowly shrugged out of the sweater he was wearing, wincing as he pulled at his stitches once again. He tried to peak beneath the bandage covering his whole right side but Niall slapped his hands gently, “Leave that alone”

Liam glared a little at him but pulled his hand away.

“He’s right, leave it be” Louis scolded him with a smile, which soon turned into a frown when Liam shuffled around a little, “Your back is all bruised up, love”

“I’m a little sore, but it’s fine, not too bad”

Harry leaned behind Louis to glance at Liam and grimaced, “Doesn’t look great”

Liam didn’t really care as he let his eyes slip closed for just a moment again.

“Go back to sleep, Li” Zayn told him gently, still looking the most worried out of them all.

“Just woke up” Liam frowned, but didn’t open his eyes again, “Probably won’t be able to”

“Just rest, then, if we annoy you or are too loud just say so. We can leave” Louis offered carefully watching Liam.

“No, stay” Liam just sighed, before letting himself slide back down again. Niall pulled his blanket back up and covered him up, neither of them cared enough to make him put back on a sweater or shirt either. While Liam didn’t fall back asleep, he was fine with just letting himself rest and do nothing for a while, not feeling up to do anything.

The boys went back to their game and that was all the entertainment he needed. He must have dosed off again, because the next thing he realised was that Zayn was shaking him awake softly.

“Wake up, Li, come on”

“Zayn?” Liam asked, a little confused as he tried to clear out the blurriness in his vision. The room was a lot darker than before and no one else was there but Zayn.

“Yeah, the others went to Harry’s and Niall’s room to play some FIFA, I was reading, but they ordered room service and you need to eat, too” Zayn told him gently.

“Huh” Liam simply said, still catching up.

“Come on, babe, get up” Zayn said and pulled away the blanket, “You want to put on some other clothes?”

Liam shook his head. He was still wearing the sweatpants he had put on in the hospital and really didn’t want to put on a shirt, knowing how irritating the sweater had felt against his side earlier.

“How are you feeling?” Zayn asked as Liam slid to the edge of the bed gingerly and slowly stood up.

“Okay, I think?” Liam mumbled, following him out the door and across the hall. Harry and Niall were sitting in front of the TV on the floor, each holding a controller as they were leaning against the bed. Louis was on top of it, laughing at them but immediately held out his hand for Liam, calling out for him. Liam didn’t need to be told twice. He slowly climbed onto the bed and let himself fall against Louis’ side, the older one catching him as Liam got settled on his left side and his head rested against Louis’ chest.

“How are you feeling?”

Liam sighed, “Already answered that, ask Zayn”

“He said that he thinks that he is okay” Zayn told Louis with a roll of his eyes, “Where’s the food”

“Five more minutes” Niall said, glancing at the clock.

“My side hurts” Liam mumbled against Louis’ chest, hoping that no one but the oldest heard him. He had no such luck as all four sets of eyes were on him and Zayn left the room again, just to return with the pain medication he was supposed to take in case he needed it.

“We need to change the bandages after dinner as well, love” Louis gently told him as they sat up and Liam took the medication.

“Anything else that hurts?” Louis then asked softly and Liam shook his head a little.

“Don’t think so… just sore, still… my head feels weird, but not… doesn’t hurt, just feel tired and it’s hard… to think? Does that make sense?” Liam honestly tried to explain.

“Yeah, makes perfect sense. That’s just the concussion and the feeling should go away in a few days” Louis told him encouragingly, “Just need to rest the next few days like you are told to”

“But I’m already starting to get bored” Liam whined.

“You were asleep, there was no time to get bored, babe” Zayn chuckled, sitting on Louis’ other side. Their dinner arrived a little while later and they all sat on the bed to eat together, neither bothering to actually sit at a table like normal people would.

Afterwards Paul knocked on their door and entered the room, “We need to go in fifteen minutes”

“Go where?” Liam frowned at him confusedly.

“Not you” Paul laughed, “The boys have a show to attend”

“Oh, why not me?” Liam asked as the other four started to get up and get ready.

“You called in sick for work when you were admitted to the hospital, stupid” Zayn told him with a shake of his head, as Louis added, “No work for you, love”

“Come on, Liam, let’s get you back to your room” Paul said and motioned for him to come along, “If you need anything, just call Andy and take it easy”

“This is stupid…” Liam sighed as he was left alone in the hotel room with nothing to do. At first he sat on the bed for a little while but he couldn’t rest or sleep again. He had done that enough in the last twenty four hours.

His phone was sitting on the bedside table and charging, so he decided to pick it up. There were quite a few messages on there and he answered some that he deemed most important. When he texted his sister, he was called immediately by her.

She was worried and five minutes into their conversation he could hear his father and mother in the background. It was hard to follow all three of them along and it tired him out more than he had expected.

“Are you sure you are alright, darling?” his mother asked worriedly after he had been quiet for a while.

“I’m just tired” Liam mumbled, fighting to keep his eyes open, the pounding behind his eyes having intensified again, “Headache”

“But you said it was better, Liam” Ruth said, sounding worried.

“It was… just’… ‘s starting to hurt again” Liam replied tiredly.

“We are going to let you go, then, get some more rest and call us tomorrow, alright, son?” his father’s calm voice told him gently and Liam sighed happily, “Okay”

The call had made him tired and he realised that while he had felt better doing nothing, all the talking and listening and the voices had triggered another headache. It didn’t start back like the one in the hospital, where he had woken up in pure agony. Instead it was slowly starting to get worse. Nowhere near as bad as the first one, but still enough to leave him unable to move or do anything but curl up and wait it out, it still brought tears to his eyes.

After what felt like forever Liam forced himself to sit up and take more of the prescribed pain medication before sinking back down on the bed again. He didn’t fall asleep as he had hoped he would. Instead he just laid in bed and waited for the medication to do its job.

It felt like forever but sometime later, the door to the hotel room opened and Louis slipped in, startling when Liam said “Lou?”

“I thought you were asleep, love, what’s wrong?” Louis rushed over immediately and leaned over Liam.

“Headache” Liam whimpered.

“Shit, as bad as the last one? Did you take any pain meds?” Louis fired off questions as he quickly got changed.

“Not quite… and yes…” Liam replied slowly, watching as Louis disappeared into the bathroom to come back with a cold cloth and some fresh bandages. He gently placed the cloth on Liam’s head who sighed in relief before Louis pulled away his blankets.

“We need to change the dressing, just relax and don’t look at it” Louis told him.

“Don’t want to see anyway” Liam mumbled, letting his eyes slip closed as he trusted Louis to take care of him. It didn’t really hurt as Louis peeled away the old bandage and applied the new one with gentle touches.

Liam was glad that Louis had decided to switch rooms with Niall after the show. Louis was the oldest and in a weird way Liam only felt really comfortable being vulnerable with him. He always worried about Niall and Harry too much, didn’t want to scare them and tried to be strong and protective of them whenever something overwhelming or scary was happening. Even with Zayn it was not as easy as it was with Louis, since they were too similar, both quiet and thoughtful and while Zayn got him like none of the others did and they could have endless conversations through the night, sometimes without words, it was just different with Louis.

Soon Louis was shutting off all the lights and climbed into the bed next to Liam, letting him cuddle close and holding him without a word. Liam felt safe even though his head did not hurt any less.

The next morning, Liam woke up alone. He was a little disappointed when he found neither of the boys in either of their rooms and returned to his own bed to look at his phone. Louis had texted him about two hours earlier.

“Had to go do press, stay in bed and rest, we left some breakfast, call Andy if you need anything and room service for lunch. Will bring dinner.”

Liam sighed, flopping down on his bed. He didn’t want to stay in bed all day again as he was feeling a little better. The headache was almost gone even if his side was still twinging and burning a little.

After about one hour of Liam entertaining himself, he ended up texting Louis that he was bored.

“Just relax and do nothing, you’ll be fine,” Louis answered with a laughing smiley.

Liam groaned, tossing the phone on the bed next to himself, then went over to Harry’s and Niall’s room where they had set up the gaming console and played a few games, meaning that he barely could make it through half an hour before he felt another headache coming and stopped before it got as bad as it did during the phone call last night, returning to his room.

Liam jumped up the second he heard commotion outside of the room and rushed to the door as he grabbed his side, wincing in pain at having moved too quickly. Just as suspected the rest of the band was back. It was just after lunch time and Liam frowned for a second at realising that. But the second he saw half a crew in the hallway as well as representatives from their management team, he realised what was going on.

“Liam!” Niall was the first to spot him and rushed back out of Harry’s and his own room to hug him gently. The whole thing created a little chaos as the boys tried to get back out of the room while a ton of other people were just entering it.

“We’ve still got two interviews left” Louis informed him with a knowing glance as he arrived as well where Liam was standing in the doorway to their own room, “What are you doing up?”

“I’m bored” Liam mumbled, feeling weird as he was just doing nothing and his friends were having fun without him, well, it was work, but still.

“We won’t be too long, love” Louis smiled and ushered the boys back into the room where their team was already waiting. Paul was standing in the hallway and gently told him to go back inside, closing the door behind Liam who suddenly felt even more alone than he had before.

Liam decided to just wait for his friends. It shouldn’t take too long, right? If they were doing the interviews in the hotel room it usually only was a ten minute thing for some magazines or blog, not one of these heavily produced things they did at studios.

But after half an hour, there was still no one coming into his room and Liam grew a little impatient. He wasn’t tired anymore and after taking his pain meds he was feeling fine, barely feeling the gash on his side and his head was a lot better than before. He even could play some video games now, he supposed. But the console was in the other room.

It couldn’t hurt to look how close to being done they were, right? Liam mused as he slowly got up and peeked out of his own hotel room. The hallway was empty so he quickly went to the other room and as quietly as possible opened the door just a little bit. That obviously didn’t work as much as he had hoped, because the second he glanced inside, he was met with a few sets of eyes. His four band mates were looking at him incredulously, as well as the young woman conducting the interview. Marc from their management team was in the room as well as Paul. There was another young man sitting behind the camera obviously recording.

“What are you doing?” Louis finally spoke up when Liam just looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Uhm, er just… bored… wanted… how long…” Liam felt a little embarrassed as he stumbled over his words.

“Either come inside or go back, don’t stand around in the hallway” Paul chuckled as he motioned for him to come in, Liam quickly slipped in, walking behind the camera, and sitting on the bed as quietly as possible.

“Don’t film Liam” Zayn grumbled, looking at the man behind the camera a little upset. Liam frowned and turned to him as well.

“Sorry” the man mumbled, and they returned to the interview.

Liam felt almost even weirder watching his friends work in front of his eyes instead of sitting in the other room. Luckily, the boys were sitting on the very small sofa near the wall and Liam could easily access the gaming console, muting it as he started a game. Paul chuckled softly as he did so while Marc just shook his head disappointedly. Liam slid off the bed and sat in front of the TV leaning back against the side of the bed.

Meanwhile the other four were slightly distracted after Liam had showed up. Niall looked jealous as he followed the game Liam was playing while Zayn still glared at the camera man that had just decided to film their friend when he had entered. Louis was watching Liam like a hawk, knowing that he was still injured and probably hurting.

Somehow Harry was keeping the interview together for a while, but even he was distracted when Liam nearly beat Niall’s high score.

“Is anyone going to answer or are you going to keep staring at Liam?” the interviewer laughed a little as she turned to follow their eyes.

“Sorry” Louis answered.

“He’s beating my high score! That’s unfair!” Niall called out at the same time.

“What was the question again?” Harry asked.

Liam paused the game and glanced over, looking guilty as he realised that he had interrupted the interview now twice and that would not go over well with management. Marc already looked annoyed.

“Sorry, I’ll stop” Liam mumbled dropping the controller, “I was just bored?”

“Do you want to join and answer a few questions if you have nothing else to do?” the interviewer saw a chance and took it. Neither of the boys could blame her and Liam hesitated for a moment. Louis was already shaking his head, “No, you’re supposed to rest!”

“I did that all morning, and yesterday, and…” Liam trailed off, looking over to Marc, “Can I?”

“If you put on a shirt before” Marc sighed, the interview was already a mess.

Liam looked around the room and quickly snatched one of the discarded sweaters and slowly slipped it over his head, wincing when he pulled at his stitches. Then he slowly shuffled over to the other boys. Zayn and Louis both reached out and scuffled around on the sofa before pulling him down to sit between both of them. It was a tight squeeze, but Louis made sure there was no pressure on his side as he kept his arm around him.

“It’s great to have you here as well, Liam! How are you feeling? That was quite the fall you took!” the young woman asked.

“I’m okay” Liam said sheepishly, not looking directly at her as he answered.

“That’s good to hear! The fans were all worried!”

“We told them he was fine, though” Harry chimed in which made all of them laugh a little.

“When can we expect you to join the boys in interviews and during shows again, though? Will you be attending the award show tomorrow night?”

“Uhm…” Liam looked at Louis and Marc for a moment, “I don’t know? I haven’t really… been in the loop about things? Is it already tomorrow?”

Zayn laughed, “We are still figuring out the schedule since we had to move a few things around the day after our last show. We’ll let the fans know at some point, though”

Liam nodded at that, thankful that he was saved from giving a definite answer.

“I’m still not over the fact that you were about to beat my high score” Niall muttered when there was a little talking pause.

“But I didn’t… and I won’t, I promise!” Liam quickly said.

“Why not?” Harry wanted to know.

“Hurts my head” Liam shrugged with a little frown.

“And that doesn’t make it any better either! Liam almost never plays! How is he better than me!?” Niall called out, seemingly minutes away from a mental breakdown over this.

Fortunately, the interviewer then moved on to ask some questions about their new album. Liam sighed a little, leaning towards Louis and letting his head rest on the older boy’s shoulder. His head was hurting a little again and Liam wondered how long it would be before he’d feel better and could do things without feeling dizzy. Louis hand on his back and Zayn pressed against his other side made him feel warm and safe and somehow his eyes grew heavier with each question.

“Is he…. Did he just fall asleep?” the young woman asked with wide eyes, looking a little concerned, which made the other four boys laugh softly.

“Yeah, don’t worry. He’s been doing that the last few days” Harry told her with a grin.

“That’s true” Niall laughed again, “He wakes up, complains that he is bored, does something that just makes his head hurt more and then passes out again”

They didn’t continue much longer after that, as Marc stepped in and finally called an end to it. He also had a long talk with the interviewer and camera team afterwards, explaining to them which parts need to be cut out of the video. It was typical and Louis couldn’t help but roll his eyes at them.

He didn’t spend much time dwelling on it, though, as Zayn was already trying to wake Liam up.

“No, go ‘way” Liam just muttered, turning further into Louis. He now had fully buried his face in Louis’ shoulder and had brought up his hand to clutch at his shirt as well. Louis chuckled softly and tried to detangle himself from Liam, but the younger boy was a dead weight against him, refusing to move.

In the meantime, Niall and Harry had moved on to continue the game Liam had played earlier and Zayn glanced at them before shrugging, “Let’s just get him into their bed”

“You get him up, then” Louis told him, and Zayn smiled a little with a shake of his head, but did wrap his arm around Liam, pulling him up. Louis kept his arms around him as well and together they brought a stumbling, half asleep Liam to the bed.

It wasn’t enough to fully wake him up, though, as he was completely asleep by the time Zayn had pulled the covers back up and Louis had made himself comfortable next to him, phone in hand. Zayn settled down next to Niall, watching him and Harry play.

“I need you guys’ attention for a moment, please!” Marc called out a few minutes later as it was only him and Paul in the room anymore now. He stood in front of the bed and waited until the game was stopped and they all looked up at him.

“Do you guys think Liam is up for the award show tomorrow?” Marc started the conversation off on a difficult question. The boys all exchanged uncertain looks.

“He just fell asleep in the middle of an interview. Which he’d only been in for five minutes” Zayn commented dryly.

“The label wants a public appearance with all of you before you go back home” Marc just told them with a shrug, “You wouldn’t need to do more than one interview and like one at the red carpet”

“Do you expect us to make that decision for him? Like… Liam needs to have a say in this, right?” Harry asked, looking at his bandmates for confirmation.

“You are talking about the guy that doesn’t really have a self-preservation instinct, so… I don’t know” Zayn shrugged, “What about the other interviews we were supposed to do tomorrow?”

“If Liam attends the show, we might drop them” Marc said slowly.

“Great, so you are blackmailing him, or us” Louis muttered, then gently shook Liam’s shoulder. Harry was right, no matter how much Louis just wanted to keep Liam back in the hotel room for as long as possible.

Liam tried to turn away from Louis, muttering, “Why do you keep waking me?”

“Come on, Li, we need to talk a little” Louis softly said, “About the schedule”

“What about it?” Liam finally blinked his eyes open and squinted up at Louis before following his glance to Marc.

“Do you feel up for the show tomorrow night? No interviews before, just the show” Marc asked.

“Uhm” Liam hesitated, slowly sitting up, “I don’t know… I want to”

“If you have any doubts, you are staying home” Zayn said sternly.

“I did nothing for two days already like I’m supposed to, I’m bored” Liam sighed, looking incredibly sad.

“Great, I’ll let the label know you’ll be there” Marc smiled, “You got a TV show the following day before you are done here. Remember you have one week off before recording in London starts”

Liam nodded slowly, “Sure, are we done?”

Marc nodded and Liam flopped back down with a sigh, using Louis as a pillow, and letting his eyes drop closed again. Louis put his arm around his back gently even though he looked a little sad at the whole exchange, saying softly, “I’d rather you’d take a few more days off, love”

Liam just mumbled something incoherently and the boys let him be after that. Paul stayed behind when Marc finally left and made sure they had everything they needed and promised to get them something for dinner later.

The five boys spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the room together, letting Liam sleep until dinner time. After that Liam was a lot more alert and feeling well enough to play some games with them and it settled his friends’ minds a little when they thought about the following day.

While they didn’t retreat to their respective rooms until late into night, they still had the whole morning off and just slept in. Louis once again helped Liam change his bandage and the both of them talked for a little while before falling asleep.

The next morning Liam almost felt back to normal and even took a shower, convincing Louis he was well enough, and he had waited long enough to not get his stitches wet. He was glad to find that while his wound still looked ugly and disgusting, making him a little nauseous, it was slowly but surely healing. Moving his upper body around carelessly still hurt and pulled at his stitches, but he barely needed any pain meds anymore. He actually felt great.

He talked to his family on the phone a lot and could play some games with Niall for longer than before. They even went out for lunch this time and Liam only felt a little tired afterwards. Louis still made him take a nap, though, thinking about the long night they were going to have and actually laid down with him.

“Thank god you are alright, Liam!” Lou’s loud and worried voice woke him. He was confused to see their stylist standing before his bed. She was smiling widely and pulled him into a hug once he was starting to sit up.

“We were all so worried! Josh has been feeling so guilty for getting you hurt as well!” she said, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay” Liam mumbled, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, “What’s going on?”

“You need to get ready” Lou chuckled softly, “I already got everyone else ready for the show. Louis said you already showered?”

Liam nodded, slowly sitting up and scooting to the edge of the bed. She had some clothes already laid out for him and was setting up her tools at the table as he started to get dressed. It hurt to move his arms up to try and change the shirt as he had not taken any pain meds that day.

“God, Liam, you look totally beaten up, are you alright?” Lou asked when she heard him wince and had turned around. Liam nodded even though he was grimacing and peeled off the bandage to look at his wound.

“It keeps getting worse” Lou sighed with a sad shake of her head, eyeing the stitches.

“Sorry… I know it looks disgusting” Liam said, “C-could you get one of the fresh bandages from the bathroom, please?”

Lou nodded, “Of course, don’t move”

Liam smiled thankfully at her as she simply took over and made sure to cover it back up before also helping him slip into the fancy button up shirt that was picked out for him to wear tonight. Lou did his hair and made sure he was presentable and before he knew it the other four boys were in the room, being loud and excited as Paul tried to get them out and into the car waiting for them.

Somehow there was a new dynamic in the group, Liam noticed as they walked the red carpet. Somehow, he always was in the middle between Louis and Zayn, with Louis keeping an arm around him and making sure no one got close to his right side. Usually, the middle spots in the group were reserved for Niall and Harry as the other three were very protective over them. Liam didn’t really mind, though, he was alright with that for the night, as he knew that what had happened had scared his friends and he could deal with them hovering for a little while. But definitely not longer.

Marc stayed true to his promise and they only had to talk to two reporters on the red carpet and didn’t have to take as many pictures as usual. All the yelling and the flashing lights were not easy on Liam’s concussion, though. He felt the headache coming the second he had stepped out of the car and while it was only slight then, it got worse over the course of the night.

He sat through a backstage interview, telling everyone just how fine he was and that he’d be back with the rest of the boys soon as well. He was just starting to feel a little dizzy and the pain was getting to him when they were finally released from the interview. Zayn must have seen it somehow, that he was not feeling his best anymore, despite the great morning and afternoon he had.

“What’s wrong, babe?” he whispered softly in his ear as they were ushered along to their seats.

“Just a little overwhelmed, it’s loud” Liam played it down a little. He didn’t want them to worry. He was fine. Zayn seemed to buy it but stayed close, just like Louis as they chatted with other artists, well, mostly Louis and Niall did, as they were the most talkative out of the group and Niall was the one to actually remember all of the names.

When they finally made it to their table, Liam was feeling quite exhausted and was glad for the little break he got, grabbing some water, and letting the other four boys talk among themselves and occasionally to some other people that came over. Marc and Paul were around as well, making sure everything was going smoothly and there were no problems.

Before the show started a lot of people tried to talk to him though, asking him how he was feeling and making small talk. While these award shows were always a little awkward, this felt even worse. He didn’t even know some of them and was glad when either of the boys helped him out, sensing how uncomfortable he was with all the questions.

When the show finally started, Liam let out a relieved sigh and leaned back in his seat, letting his eyes slip closed. He wasn’t disturbed again until the first category they were nominated for was announced and Zayn gently made sure he was sitting up, “Babe, the camera might be on us”

“I’m fine” Liam said and sat up, knowing that his passive demeanour was worrying his friends. He just couldn’t help it; his head was hurting and his side aching. Everything was fine, though.

Liam didn’t even realise that they had won, only when the other four boys jumped up and celebrated, he realised that something was going on and he hurried to follow along as they all went up to accept the award. There was a weird second where they all waited for Liam to step up and talk first, like usual but Liam subtly shook his head at Louis. He didn’t trust himself to say something at the moment, his brain still a little slow. Louis and Harry took over, thanking everyone.

Liam had been quick to keep his distance at the hug the presenters gave all of them and kept his side protected but when they left the stage and were congratulated, he was not as happy, too many people trying to hug each other at the same time and someone brushed against his side, making him lean over with a gasp just for a second before remembering that he probably was still on camera and tried to mask his expression. Louis was there, wrapping his arm gently around him and led him back to their seats quickly, pulling his chair closer before worriedly looking around to see who was watching them.

“You are hurting” Louis stated in a whisper, “Shouldn’t have come”

“I’m fine… someone just bumped into me” Liam replied, “My head doesn’t hurt that bad yet”

“Yet” Louis mumbled with a sigh, “Need some pain killers?”

Liam hesitated as the rest of the boys got settled around them again and Louis nodded, “Wait here”

He left and returned with Liam’s pain medication, which Paul had been carrying around apparently, making him drink more water and generally taking care of him, making sure he was alright. They barely had the time to catch their breath though as they won another award and Liam actually flinched as the audience clapped and shouted for them, congratulating them. Still, he got up and trailed after the other boys a little slower. Zayn stopped at the stairs and hovered around him as they repeated the same action as before.

Despite the medication Liam’s headache continued to worsen over the course of the night, as he also started to experience some vertigo and nausea, which worried him. That hadn’t happened since the migraine in the hospital.

He felt another wave of dizziness arrive and leant forward to rest his head on his arms with a confused groan just as another category of theirs was announced. He prayed that they didn’t win that one as well. Of course, they did win it, though and Liam hurried to look composed as he sat up, but it just sent another wave of dizziness through him and he had trouble staying where he was, his world tilting just slightly as the rest of the boys got up and he tried to follow.

Liam could barely keep up and was glad when Louis turned around and frowned, stopped walking, and waited for him, throwing his arm around his back, trying to look casual as he leaned in, “You are going home after this, love”

Liam nodded, “Don’t feel good”

Louis looked alarmed at that as they both made it up the few steps while Harry was already talking. The oldest band member moved him, so he was standing between Zayn and himself again, leaning behind Liam to talk to Zayn. Liam couldn’t even try to hear what they were saying as he just tried to fight the vertigo that suddenly was getting worse and worse, leaving him to grab on to Louis tightly.

Zayn was moving in closer as well and Liam was sure that at one point on their way back down, he was fully supported by his friends. Liam just fell back into his seat with Louis turning his chair fully towards him and making him drink a little, while saying, “Liam, drink something, love. Zayn is getting Paul and you can leave, alright? Is it your head that’s hurting?”

Liam nodded but regretted immediately as he answered, “Dizzy, hurts”

He didn’t drink any water as told instead, leaned forward, and held his head in his hands.

“You can’t leave, you are still up for one more category!” Marc sounded almost panicked as he appeared at their table, “The label will freak if you-“

“Do me a favour and shut up” Louis told him angrily, as he kept glancing at Liam, who was still in the same position breathing deeply.

“You are not leaving” Marc stated, sounding very cold suddenly, “We gave you enough time off”

The man simply left after that and Louis and Zayn exchanged worried glances.

“I’m fine” Liam said softly, trying to compose himself as he sat up, “I can do it, just a little dizzy, sorry for worrying you”

“No offense, mate, but you are way too pale for that. You look like you are about to pass out” Harry said doubtingly.

“Might actually do that” Liam muttered as another wave of vertigo hit him and he actually had to hold on to the table.

“Oh god…” Niall said a little panicked, “We are so fucked if we win again”

“I don’t care anymore, Liam will just stay here” Louis said, sounding angry, “There’s no denying it that he’s not feeling that great, the cameras probably already picked it up”

“Louis… we can’t do that. Marc will freak” Harry said softly.

“I’ll deal with it” Louis told them with a glint in his eye, then his voice softened as he called Liam’s name, “You’ll just stay here when we are called again, love, alright?”

Liam made a confirming sound, but Louis wasn’t sure whether Liam knew what he was agreeing to.

They sat through the next agonizingly long hour and of course they won just another award. Usually they’d be elated at that, but that day just didn’t feel right, not when Liam was hurting this bad and wasn’t allowed to step out and rest. Moments like this were when Louis hated their job and the industry especially.

When their name was called, Liam was sitting in his chair, his arms crossed and one hand holding up his head while his eyes were closed. He didn’t even react, just stayed in the same position as the rest of the boys hugged and got up again. Louis hesitated; he didn’t want to leave Liam sitting at the table all alone.

“I got it, I’ll stay here” Ed Sheeran, who they had worked with many times and considered a friend suddenly had a hand on his lower back, pushing him along and Louis nodded thankfully, rushing after the other three.

Up on stage he saw that Ed was sitting in Louis’ chair, talking softly to Liam who was now leaning forward again, and he was pushing some water towards Liam as well. He couldn’t help but smile at the fact that they did have such awesome friends now. Friends that didn’t mind stepping in and helping out when they needed it.

When they came back to the table after accepting yet another award Louis kneeled between Ed and Liam, asking softly, “How are you feeling, any better?”

“He said it’s getting worse” Ed whispered softly, “What is he even doing here? A concussion this bad is not a joke, boys!”

“Ask our management. Liam wanted to try coming but we were under the expression that he could leave if it got to be too much, which it is. We are not allowed to leave, though” Zayn explained grumpily. They were all looking upset and tired.

“Shit” Ed simply said, “Are you up for any more awards?”

“Don’t think so” Harry said.

“One of you just get Liam out of here, then, you did what’s required” Ed said, “Want me to distract your manager? Paul is probably up to smuggling you out of here”

“I like the way you think” Louis smirked, “Come on, Li, we are just going to talk to Paul for a second”

Ed smiled, “You boys need to take better care of yourselves. I’m just going to chat to Marc for a hot second”

“Will the three of you be alright on your own?”

Zayn nodded confidently, “Just get Liam out of here”

Louis’ expression hardened as he glanced at Liam who was looking even worse for wear now, “Let’s go”

Liam tried to get up, but he was just so dizzy that he was fully leaning against Louis as they walked, keeping his head low and eyes almost fully closed, letting himself just be led. Everything was too much, the noise too loud and the lights too bright and even the air around him felt like too much with his clothes hurting his skin. Maybe his brain was getting ready to explode.

“We need to go before Marc sees us” Louis told Paul who mustered them for barely any second then led the way out of the building.

“Don’t pass out until we are in the car, please” Louis simply asked of Liam.

“That’d be great, you already are in enough trouble after this” Paul added.

The second they were in the car, Liam let out a soft sob as he buried his head in Louis’ shoulder.

“Shit, Liam, love” Louis said, sounding almost scared.

“Hurts” Liam whimpered.

“I’m sorry, Liam, you can rest now, it’s okay” Louis whispered, hugging Liam close, “Just one more day and we can go home”

Liam had tears of pain streaming down his face when they finally made it to the hotel and Paul opened the car door. Walking through the lobby was alright with the support of Louis but the second the elevator started to move, Liam’s whole world tilted, and Paul actually had to catch him as Louis didn’t expect him to just fall sideways his eyes fluttering almost fully closed.

“Is that normal?” Louis asked worriedly as Paul was now almost fully carrying Liam to their room. Once Liam was sitting down on the bed, Louis helped him slip out of his clothes and helped him climb into the bed before getting a cool cloth for his head and some more water which had helped the most during the migraine in the hospital.

“I’ll go make a call, see if it is normal” Paul whispered softly before leaving the room while Louis took care of Liam.

The younger boy was curled up and whimpering in pain with Louis gently stroking his hair when Paul returned.

“Sounds like another migraine. He might get them for the next week. Unless the pain is unbearable it’s fine, though” Paul told them, “You can double up the pain meds if needed”

“Great, let’s try that” Louis nodded, “Thanks Paul”

The security guard left them alone after that, and Louis made Liam take more pain meds. They barely helped though, and Liam was left to sit through the pain for almost two more hours until he was completely passed out. The rest of the boys didn’t return until late into the night.

“Be quiet, please don’t wake him. It’s another migraine. Paul talked to his doctor, though. It’s normal apparently since the concussion was this bad. Might happen again this week”

“I hate this” Zayn said tiredly.

“How did the rest of the show go?” Louis wanted to know.

“Marc was pissed off at first, but we won another surprise category and Ed and one of his friends just came up on stage with us, made a joke about replacing you two which was received pretty well” Niall smiled, “It should be fine since it was pretty funny”

“Good” Louis smiled, “Can we agree to not let Liam convince us he is fine again until the end of the week just because he had a few good hours?”

All four of them agreed on that before they all went to get some sleep.

Liam woke up a few times during the night, not feeling much better and having trouble going back to sleep as he kept tossing and turning because of the pain. This pain was some of the worst he had ever felt, not counting his childhood troubles with his kidney. But breaking his arm and getting beat up during school was not nearly as bad as this. He was just glad he didn’t wake up Louis with all his moving around and whimpering in pain. Only in the early morning hours he finally fell into a deep sleep which lasted for a few hours.

When he woke up later in the morning, Louis was already awake, as was Niall who had made his way into their room apparently. They were both watching a game of football on the tv which was muted. Niall smiled widely when Liam sat up, rubbing tiredly at his face, “You are awake! Finally!”

“You don’t look like you slept as much as you did” Louis said with a frown.

“Didn’t sleep much” Liam grumbled, getting out of bed to use the bathroom.

“What do you mean?” Louis wanted to know, eyes narrowing.

Liam didn’t answer until he returned to the room, gingerly sitting down with a yawn, “Just kept waking up… no big deal”

“How’s your head?” Niall asked before Louis could tell Liam what he was thinking. Which was a good thing, Liam supposed, since Louis expression was definitely not a happy one.

“Better than last night, a lot actually” Liam said softly, “Where are the others?”

“Zayn is asleep, Harry is on the phone” Louis told him, “We have to leave around lunch time for the interview and the TV show”

Liam nodded, “Okay… do I have to go as well?”

Louis shook his head, “You are staying here until we leave for the airport”

Liam didn’t seem to mind that as he just shrugged, checking his phone. The rest of the morning went by fast, they just hung out in the hotel rooms and relaxed until they had an early lunch and afterwards Liam was left alone. He took another nap and then played some video games and spent some time on his phone before stealing one of Harry’s books, it could have been Zayn’s as well, Liam wasn’t sure. After reading a few pages, he got tired of it though, too easily distracted. Still, when the boys returned, he proudly told them just how good he was feeling. His side was barely hurting anymore and that was great, and he knew that it helped relieve the boys’ minds. Whenever he was feeling alright, he wanted them to know that, because they worried far too much. It was more than visible in their glances and actions during the day. While Liam enjoyed all the cuddles he got from Louis and was glad he was rather gentle with him, he also missed the wild and loud side of his friend.

They all had dinner together before they packed their bags and were brought safely to the airport by Paul and their team. They had to wait quite some time at the airport as their flight got delayed and Liam didn’t mean to, but he nodded off, leaning against Zayn and when he woke back up, he found that his head was lying in Harry’s lap and he had been covered by one of their jackets.

“Hey there, sleepy head” Louis smiled at him from his seat opposite the row Liam was lying on. Harry had his arms around him as he sat up with a little wince, momentarily forgetting about his stitches.

“Your mum called while you were asleep, I answered it” Louis told him once he was fully awake again.

“Yeah?” Liam asked curiously.

“You didn’t tell them when we are landing or what time you are coming home!” Louis exclaimed and Liam frowned. He probably should have done that.

“I think I forgot. I didn’t?”

Louis chuckled a little, “No, they were worried about you making the flight to Birmingham on your own and your dad wanted to come pick you up from the airport”

“Oh no, he shouldn’t. I was going to figure something out”

“When?” Harry asked with wide eyes, looking shocked and startling Liam who had forgotten that he was right next to him.

“I don’t know, I didn’t really think about it” Liam said defensively.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Your dad is picking you up” Louis told him, immediately adding when he saw Liam was about to protest, “No complaining. It was the only thing that kept your mum from worrying any more than she already is. We are not letting you go on your own, yet”

“I keep falling asleep randomly. I never sleep in airports… so you might be onto something by not letting me” Liam sighed disappointedly. While he did not like the fact, that he was not back to a hundred percent yet, he also was mature enough to admit it at this point. He was still sad about it, though, he didn’t like feeling dependent on someone and he just was supposed to have fun as their tour ended, but all it had been was a fight to stay awake and without pain for some time at least. Letting his head drop on Harry’s shoulder, he sighed again.

The plane ride was just plain awful. Their flight had been delayed for what felt like forever and there were people causing some trouble as well as what felt a horde of children that were screaming through most of it as well. Usually Liam didn’t complain about kids, but his head just was in agony this time. It was not as bad as the migraine the night before but uncomfortable enough for Liam to actually consider never ever having children of his own.

After they landed and exchanged long tight hugs with each other and made promises to call as well the five boys all went into different directions, Niall being the first to hurry away to get his connection flight to Ireland. Harry was next as Louis, Zayn and Liam were the last ones to finally separate. Louis and Zayn still made sure that Liam got to the gate safely and only left at the last minute to catch their own flights to get home, both flying to Leeds while Liam had to go to Birmingham.

It was only a short flight to his hometown and Liam fought really hard not to fall asleep. Jet lag would be horrible, and he knew it. They had flown through the whole night according to LA time and it was now actually time to wake up but neither of them had slept. In London it was the middle of the day, though.

He had to wait forever at the baggage claim and by the time he finally walked out of the security area he just wanted to sleep and never wake up again. He also might be feeling a little dramatic. The moment he spotted his dad he sighed out in relief and just stopped walking, dropping his bag tiredly.

His father was close and immediately hugged him when he did take the few steps towards him. Liam just sunk into his arms and let himself be held for just a second too long, enough to make Geoff worry. The man pulled back and took a close look at his son who blinked up at him with dark circles under his eyes and pale face.

“Liam” the man said concerned, “Your mum is going to worry even more when she sees you like this”

“I’m fine, just tired” Liam claimed, but it barely came out as more than a whisper.

“Right, I’m sure of that” Geoff chuckled with a shake of his head, knowing his son well enough to know that was not true. He simply picked up Liam’s bags and slung an arm around his son, leading him to the car. The familiarity and the quietness of the car was all it needed for Liam to fall asleep the second he sat down. He didn’t even put his seatbelt on as he just passed out, knowing that he was safe and home.

Liam only startled awake when the door on his side was ripped open later once his dad had parked in front their house. His mother was there, already smothering him with her love, hugs, and worry. Instead of trying to figure what was going on, Liam just let himself be pulled along into the house.

“Nicola and Ruth are coming over for dinner” his father informed him as they all sat around the kitchen table and had some tea. His mother made him something to eat after hearing that he hadn’t eaten since getting on the flight, his stomach too unsettled to eat any of the crappy airport meal.

Both Louis and Zayn had already tried calling him and he simply had shot them a quick text, too tired and involved in the conversation with his parents to actually answer the calls. After a quick lunch, Liam was starting to fall asleep at the table again and his mother actually told him to go to sleep for a while. He made her promise to wake him for dinner, but Karen just laughed at him, “Your sisters are going to make sure of that, don’t worry”

Liam smiled a little, hugging his mum and dad before going upstairs to his room, well the guest room he was always staying in when he came home. His parents had moved to a new house after Liam’s rise to fame. They had to, simply for safety reasons alone.

He got out of his clothes, only pulling on some comfy sweats and was about to dive into his bed when he remembered he had to change his bandage. His bags were still downstairs, so he tiredly trotted down again. His mum frowned when she saw him go through his bags, sitting cross legged on the floor, seemingly looking for something.

“Liam, what are you doing?” she asked, kneeling down next to him, and starting to clean up the mess he was leaving, worriedly.

“Need to change… bandage… can’t find” Liam was tired, and he couldn’t find what he was looking for. His head and side hurt and all he wanted to do was sleep, which he couldn’t, and it left him frustrated and a little emotional as he looked at his mum pleadingly.

“Oh, Liam, it’s fine, I’ll find them and come help you. Go back upstairs and lay down” his mother grabbed his hands gently and pulled him away.

“I’m just tired” Liam mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

“Of course, you look tired and like you are hurting” his mother said, still holding on to his hands. Liam nodded, his eyes slowly glassing over a little.

“Everything alright here?” Geoff was standing in the doorway looking worried.

“Liam was just looking for fresh bandages and couldn’t find them” Karen told her husband, looking at him pointedly, “Just told him to go back upstairs. I’ll be right there with them as well”

“Come on, then, son” Geoff gently helped Liam back to his feet and led him up the stairs again, ignoring Liam wincing in pain as they moved, his arm protectively coming around his side. He let Liam climb in his bed and sat on the edge, pulling the blankets up just to Liam’s waist.

“Let’s take this off and clean up a little until your mum gets here. How are you feeling, Liam?”

His son just shrugged, his eyes already slipping closed, only to shoot back open once his father as gently as possible pulled off the old bandage and cleaned it up a little.

“Still can’t believe all of that happened on stage, Liam. Might have to wrap you into bubble wrap before you go off on tour again” Geoff joked a little and Liam smiled softly, forcing his eyes to stay open.

Just then Karen entered the room with a smile, “You left your phone downstairs and Louis called, again. He was able to tell me where he packed everything you needed”

Geoff moved out of the way as she sat down on the edge of the bed and started to put another bandage on Liam’s side who flinched at every touch.

“How is your head feeling, Liam?” she then asked, mustering him worriedly when he didn’t answer at first, “Do you have a headache?”

Liam nodded, looking miserable as he did so.

“Do you feel dizzy as well?”

Liam frowned at her.

“Louis” Karen simply said, smiling a little amusedly as Liam rolled his eyes before pressing them closed with a wince, “Well, that answers it. He also said to tell you to take your pain medication if it is bad enough. Is it?”

Liam nodded; his eyes still pressed together. His parents both made sure he took some pain medication before tucking him in and closing the blinds, leaving him in the dark. It had been a long time since they both had been taking care of him like this and while it felt familiar, bringing him back to all the times he had spent in the hospital as a child, it also was a little weird and strange after almost living on his own for so long, taking care of himself and being independent. It felt nice, though, so Liam decided that it was alright, at least for now as he finally gave in and let himself drift off.

Later that evening both his older sisters Ruth and Nicola arrived at the house and immediately tried to run upstairs to see their younger brother for the first time in months. Their mother stopped them, though, “Oh no! You are not waking Liam up!”

“Why!?” Ruth whined as Nicola asked, “He’s the only reason I’m here, though!”

“Wow, Nicola, great job!” Ruth laughed at her, as they both went into the kitchen where both their parents were, cooking dinner together.

“Yeah, great to know you wouldn’t come visit us if it wasn’t for Liam!” Geoff laughed as he stirred a pot on the stove.

“You all know that’s not what I meant” Nicola called out, pushing her sister just a little.

“Why can’t we go see Liam?” Ruth wanted to know, sitting down at the kitchen table with a sigh, “Still need to hit him for-“

“You are not hitting him, Ruth! He has a concussion, what is wrong with you!?” Karen turned towards her, swinging the knife she was using to cut some vegetables in the air.

“Way to let us know who the favourite is, mum” Nicola joked.

“Be serious for a second, girls” Geoff put an end to the jokes to explain that Liam wasn’t feeling that great after the flight. They had to promise to leave him alone until it was time for dinner.

Karen still didn’t let them wake Liam, though, telling them to set the table as she went upstairs herself, going into her son’s room. Liam was still fast asleep and when she gently woke him up, he seemed to be feeling a lot better. He was a lot more talk active with his sisters during dinner and they all spent the evening together, playing games and catching up. It was great.

While Liam’s sleeping pattern was still messed up and he still needed to rest a lot with his injuries, he felt so much better during the next few days. He had missed his family incredibly and it was great to spend some downtime with them. While he went to the grocery store with his mum and took a few walks with her, he also spent a lot of time just talking to his father. Helping out around the house was great as well, even though he was not really allowed to do any strenuous activities and basically just followed his dad around. Liam also spent a lot of time on the phone with the boys, as they had all arrived home safely but were still worried about him. It was great to know that even during their down time they were friends and desired to spend time together. This was something Liam needed, to assure him that they were really close and not just connected through their work.

The fourth day Liam was home started on a different note, though. He didn’t have much of a headache ever since the first evening home and knew something was wrong when he woke to a soft pounding, the light filtering in through his blinds already too bright. When he got up to go to the bathroom a horrible vertigo hit him, and he fell back on the bed for a moment as he tried to fight the black dots in front of his eyes. Liam still tried to shake it off, going for his day like he had planned. After a shower he had breakfast with his parents before they both went to work.

By the time his mother returned home in the afternoon, he was suffering from a full blown migraine. Everything hurt, not just his head, his eyes did as well, his skin felt too tight and any sound and noise meant agony for him. Liam had retreated to his room hours ago, trying to get it as dark as possible and had buried himself under his blanket, but the fabric felt too rough and weird on his skin to be comforting.

His mother was walking around the house downstairs and even the sounds of the footsteps were too much. When she started working around in the kitchen, it got even worse.

Maybe he should move and find something to take for his headache.

It had been about a week since the concussion and this wasn’t supposed to happen anymore. Liam was worried and too scared to admit that he was not feeling alright or to ask for help. So, he just stayed where he was. Moving his head made him dizzy so he didn’t even dare to turn around when he got uncomfortable.

He could hear his mother slowly walking up the stairs after hearing the house phone ring and Liam prayed, she just would walk past his room. There was no such luck, though.

“Liam why are you not answering your phone?” she was talking loudly before she had even fully opened the door. Stopping confusedly as she saw the dark room and when Liam didn’t answer. She hit the light switch, even more surprised as Liam let out a pained groan and threw his arm over his head.

“What’s wrong, Liam?” she asked him, worriedly.

“Hurts… head” Liam whimpered, unaware that he already had tears of pain streaming down his face.

“You were alright the whole week” Karen said softly, sitting down next to him and putting the back of her hand against his forehead, “Are you getting sick?”

“N-no” Liam groaned out, moving away from her, “Concussion… migraine…”

“It’s been a week, though” his mother softly said, even more worried now.

“Mum” Liam whimpered, “It hurts”

She nodded at that, even more worried. Complaining like this was so unlike Liam which was concerning. After getting Liam to take some pain medication and drink some water she darkened the room again and let him rest some more. Back downstairs she called back Louis to tell him that Liam wouldn’t be calling him as she had promised before. They quickly talked about Liam’s headache or migraine as they supposed, and it concerned all of them that apparently the concussion was still affecting Liam more than they had thought. After checking with Liam’s doctor and explaining what was going on, they were a little more assured, but still worried. It was still in the range of normal, but if the headaches worsened or they continued to happen during the next few weeks it might be cause for worry.

The rest of the evening all Liam did was lie in his bed, unable to eat or do anything without feeling sick and immense pain, even though he took the prescribed pain medication. His mother and father were great, though, checking in on him and caring for him which made Liam miss the boys only a little. He had gotten so used to cuddling with his bandmates, using Louis and Zayn as pillows and Harry or Niall as a blanket as they usually just wrapped themselves around him.

Somehow, he got through the night with his family’s help and in the morning the pain finally eased up. The worst thing was the vertigo that really hit him the next day. While he was not in pure agony, he still was feeling anything but well, the nausea remaining and the dizziness making the day hard for him. At least he could keep some food down that day which was the only reason his mother was somewhat alright with him going back to London the day after that. They were supposed to start recording again and had quite a few meetings with management and their label lined up as well. While he still had to be careful with his movements and couldn’t do any heavy physical work with his still healing side, it was barely hurting anymore during the day.

The first day they were all back in London they all stayed at Louis’ place, catching back up with each other after a week apart. After hearing about his other migraine, the other boys were there to take care of him even though he was feeling a lot better by then. Liam spent the most of the evening assuring them he was fine and by the end of the next day which was filled with meetings they actually believed him.

Neither of them thought it would happen, but it did happen again, almost two weeks later. They had been in and out of the studio the whole time with their writers and producers working on their new album.

Instead of waking up feeling horrible like the last time, it started during the day. They had been in the studio all morning and ordered pizza for lunch and were goofing around the studio when it happened. Liam had gotten up to get himself a drink and a sudden dizziness overcame him, that made him grab the wall to steady himself for a moment.

“Alright there, Payno?” Niall asked with a laugh, seeing Liam stumble for a moment.

Liam laughed with him, moving on, but taking a moment to assert himself. He felt a little tired and exhausted, there was just the slightest hint of a headache starting behind his eyes that he had barely noticed before. Over the course over the next few hours, it just grew worse and more painful as if now that he had realised it was there, he couldn’t think of anything else. While he had been starving before, he somehow ended up giving his food to Niall and Harry as he got up when it was his time to record the next part of the song.

There was definitely another migraine happening, Liam thought worriedly as he grew lightheaded again on the way to the other room. He got through his first few lines just fine, but the music he was hearing over the headphones were hurting his ears and head and somehow, he felt like everything was a little too bright again. This couldn’t be happening again.

After messing up for the third time, unable to focus Liam gave up, hanging the headphones back up and going for the door.

His bandmates hadn’t really paid attention. It was not unusual for them to forget lines or to need multiple takes. They all were perfectionists and sometimes took forever to finish things but the thing that confused them was when Liam wordlessly just stopped, when he was told to go again. He had one hand pressed against the side of his head as he came into view.

Louis and Harry were occupied with something in the corner of the room, but Niall spoke up, “What’s wrong, Liam?”

Zayn was mustering Liam with a calculated look as the younger boy just looked at them for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out what to say.

“Liam?” Louis asked now, shouting from the other side of the room confused, “Everything alright?”

“Headache” Liam mumbled, before making his way over to the sofa where Niall was sitting and letting himself drop down carelessly. He rested his forearms on his knees as he leaned forward.

“What?” Louis and Zayn were now alarmed as they both mirrored each other in getting up and kneeling in front of Liam. The younger boy didn’t look at them as he pressed his eyes together reaching out and finding Louis’ arm to hold on tightly as another wave of dizziness hit him.

“D-don’t feel so good” Liam admitted slowly.

“How long has this been going on?” Niall wanted to know, looking a little scared, “Are you sick? What is wrong?”

“I don’t know… just started” Liam whimpered, both hands now gripping his head again, “Oh god…”

“What do we do?” Zayn looked at Louis for guidance, but Louis was still occupied with trying to figure out what was wrong.

“I think we are going home, maybe he just needs to sleep?” Harry suggested from the other side of the room.

Louis nodded, “Yeah, good idea. Maybe Niall is right and he’s just getting sick or something”

They packed up and left the studio after that. Liam was barely talking to them, looking completely miserable and getting even worse during the car ride back to his apartment. Without talking about it they all decided to just follow him into his home, not bothering to ask.

When Liam walked through the door, he suddenly stopped and started tilting sideways until he was leaning against the wall. Zayn was the first to put a hand on Liam’s shoulder, “Liam, babe, what’s going on?”

“I’m so… dizzy” Liam mumbled, letting Louis and Zayn drag him to his sofa and making him sit down.

“That looks an awful lot like how he was back in the hospital, with the concussion” Louis looked at Zayn as he said that, keeping his voice low. Then he turned to Harry, “Can you get some water and go find some pain killers for the headache?”

Harry and Niall did just that returning with some ibuprofen and water for Liam which the hurting singer took willingly. Louis then gently pulled him up and took him to his bedroom, making him lie down and sitting with him as Zayn followed them making sure the room was dark and quiet.

“Call if you need anything or if it gets worse, we’ll stay here” Zayn whispered waiting until Louis nodded affirmingly. He softly closed the door on his way out and Liam and Louis were left alone. It only got worse for Liam even though he didn’t want to let it show at first.

His head was killing him, he was feeling sick and he felt just as bad as when he had the first migraine in the hospital. It scared him and after about an hour of lying in bed he suddenly sat up, swaying for a moment before bolting to his bathroom. The pain was enough to make him throw up.

Louis was right behind him, trying to help, but there was not much he could do. Instead, he just waited until Liam was done throwing up and helped his barely conscious or alert friend back to bed and left the room.

“Zayn” he called out in a whisper, holding the door closed behind him. All three of his bandmates were there in a second, looking at him expectantly.

“He just threw up from the pain and keeps getting really dizzy. I don’t think it’s getting better” Louis explained as he kept glancing back inside the room to check on Liam.

“But the concussion thing was over, wasn’t it?” Harry asked confused, “He’s never had a headache this bad before!”

“I’m calling management to see what we are supposed to do” Zayn said, nodding towards Louis, “Sit with him until we have a plan”

Louis nodded, “Maybe call Paul as well, I think we need to take him to a doctor to get him checked out”

Zayn nodded and Louis disappeared back into the room just to find Liam whimpering in pain with tears streaming down his face as well. He didn’t even bother to hide them, and Louis gently wiped them away, sitting next to him again, “We’ll figure this out”

It took another hour before Paul was at the apartment to pick them up and once again only let Louis come with them as they got Liam checked out by a doctor. After long agonising tests and waiting around, Liam finally was given some strong pain medication. It only took him throwing up two more times for a doctor to finally administer it.

In the end he was admitted again for his migraine and taken for more tests.

It was late into the evening when finally, they were told by a doctor what was wrong. Just like they had feared, it was the concussion still messing with Liam. Apparently, he had developed post traumatic headaches, which felt like migraines and could last up to months or never fully go away. They wanted to monitor Liam for a few more hours and treat his pain levels and symptoms before sending him back home.

Liam was barely able to follow along what was happening, but Paul and Louis were concerned. That was not something they had wanted to hear. Louis was especially freaked out when he heard that the most effective way to treat it was with a mix of different medication on top of pain killers.

Once they were alone in the room, Paul stepped out, “I need to inform your management”

Louis nodded, then texted Zayn what was going on and explaining that he was going to call Karen first. Liam’s mum didn’t even greet him as she answered the phone.

“Do not tell me he got hurt again, Louis” Karen simply stated, already sounding worried.

“Well…” Louis trailed off, not sure how to answer, “He got another really bad headache”

There was a pause, so Louis continued, “He threw up from the pain and was crying and we didn’t know what to do. Management said he needed to get checked out because we couldn’t finish recording and stuff… well, we are at the hospital because they admitted him again. He got like post traumatic headaches form the concussion… I think that’s what it was called. Basically, really bad migraines that might keep happening”

“Oh no… is he alright? Can I talk to him?” Karen asked, “I’m coming down to London. This can’t happen”

“I don’t think Liam wants you to just drop everything. He’s just asleep and the pain meds are working really well right now. They just want to monitor him for the night and release him in the morning” Louis said softly.

“Could you give me the contact for the doctor that’s treating him? I need more information than that and have Liam call us as soon as he wakes up.” Karen told Louis.

After a few more words they hung up and everything felt oddly familiar to Louis as he just sat in the room, waiting for Liam to wake up. It was a long, painful night, but in the morning, Liam was released with prescriptions for medications to help him through any other episode that might occur and a follow up appointment a few weeks later.

The other three boys were still in his flat when him and Louis returned, and all cuddled him for way too long before letting him take a nap. While Liam took the following day off, still not feeling that great, the other boys returned to the studio and worked on the album. They still made him take the next few days of work easy and were almost as affectionate and soft with him as they were after their last concert.

Somehow people had found out about his stay in the hospital again and tons of rumours were going around the media and Liam hated it. He had enough on his plate with the horrible headaches and knowing that it could happen again. While he’d been told to look out for triggers and avoid them, he had no idea where to find them. As far as he knew there had been no reason for a headache to start each time. It had just happened randomly.

After they finally finished recording, they had two days off before the real work started. They had to deal with meetings with the label, had decisions to make and had tons of discussions during it. This was followed by photo shoots, preparing for yet another tour and filming music videos.

Before they knew it, their first single was about to get released. They had a full day of promo ahead of them with the release of the song later that night, followed by more promo and a performance the following day.

Liam wasn’t hungry during breakfast which was odd but nothing he really took notice off, until he got up to get himself some tea and had to grip the edge of the table, vertigo hitting him out of nowhere. He brushed it off and got himself some tea. When they got ready for the interviews and were styled by Lou, Liam felt weirdly dizzy again, grabbing onto the counter as he was about to sit down in the chair after Louis was done.

“Liam? What’s wrong?” Zayn suddenly had a hand on his lower back and sounded suspicious.

“Just got dizzy” Liam replied, sounding unsure.

“It’s happening again, isn’t it?” Louis sighed worriedly and suddenly everyone looked alarmed and Liam hated that.

“I don’t know, just got dizzy” Liam replied a little panicked. He really didn’t want this to happen today. They had a full schedule and he really wanted to be able to enjoy the release of their new single. It was one of his favourite songs off the new album.

“Liam” Louis just said disappointedly, probably thinking Liam was downplaying it, “They said that the vertigo is part of it, and you need to take it easy if you feel it coming on. What triggered it?”

“I don’t know, Louis!” Liam called out, feeling stressed, still tightly gripping the counter.

“No need to yell, Liam” Lou their stylist said softly, “Come on and sit down. Let’s get you ready and you can wait and see if you feel better in a while”

Liam did as told, not daring to say anything in fear of making Louis even more disappointed than he already was. And because he had to focus on being fine, because he needed to be fine to do these interviews.

In the end he managed a total of two interviews before giving in. He was trembling and unable to hold in the whimper once they were done with the second one. While he knew he needed to stop now before it got worse, he just couldn’t admit to Louis that the older boy had been right once again.

“Liam, love, please just stop. I know you don’t want to, but at least take the medication they gave you for this. You look like you are going to pass out” Louis begged him just moments later and Liam was glad that Louis was someone that didn’t mind spelling out his feelings and being honest.

“Okay” Liam could barely do more than whisper, his eyes focussed on the floor, embarrassed that he once again was causing trouble for everyone. They got him to take the pain medication and he sat out the next interview in another room where Paul found him afterwards completely passed out.

Paul woke him up and took him back to his apartment while the other four continued the interviews, telling everyone that Liam had caught a bug and was sick. One of the radio show hosts they were interviewed later by in the studio jokingly said, “Liam was the one that just missed a bunch of interviews back in the states, right? Are you sure he’s sick and not just tired of the band?”

Neither of the boys were happy with that and angrily told him so, stating that Liam would love to be here and promote the single more than either of them but wasn’t able to. After that the mood was down and everyone just wanted to go home.

Zayn stayed with Liam that night, trying to help him deal with all the pain and symptoms that came with a migraine. The next morning, Liam was a little better, but still felt the vertigo hit him every so often. The medication also left him a little slow and confused, sometimes unable to answer basic questions. Their management team didn’t let him attend any interviews with the way he was reacting to the headache and medication, but practically forced him to attend the TV show where they would perform their single for the first time later that night.

Liam was happy he could attend the show and was excited when they were getting ready backstage. During the interview he regretted it, though, as he realised how hard it was to answer questions with how he was feeling. The performance was not much better. He forgot half of his words and completely messed up. Everything just was so much harder to do than usually.

The boys tried to console him afterwards and told him that he hadn’t ruined anything, but one look online was all it needed for Liam to break down later that night once he was alone. Even the fans were making fun of him and calling him lazy for missing this much press. It just hurt, knowing that he was ruining things for both, the fans and the rest of the band.

Their single was still on top of the charts almost everywhere worldwide, but it did little to calm Liam down, who just wanted this whole thing to be over. He couldn’t keep going like this, not with the frequency in which the headaches were occurring and how they left him completely exhausted and in pain for at least a day or two and then he had to deal with the aftereffects and dizziness as well.

Just like always, their lives were still fast paced and before either of the boys knew it, they were on yet another promo tour. This time they were still in Europe and spent a lot of their time in Ireland and England. They were waiting for their third night flight after days filled with press. All of them were tired and cuddled up together in the waiting area as it was announced that their flight was delayed again. All they were trying to do was get back to London for a radio show in the morning, some more interviews and the BRITs in the evening.

Their new album and music video were all nominated in multiple categories and they were really looking forward to it, especially since the catastrophe their last award show in LA had been.

Niall was fast asleep against Liam who was feeling himself starting to nod off. They were used to some weeks being more stressful than the others, but this week had been one of the worst, none of them really getting more than a few hours of sleep and it was slowly showing. Zayn and Louis were grumpy and barely had any patience left for Harry who just wanted attention and to cuddle. It had ended with all three of them spreading out over the room and not talking to each other while Niall had just wrapped himself around Liam who had been too tired to play mediator again.

“Boys!” Paul startled them all a little but neither even cared to move, just looked up at him tiredly and expectantly.

“I talked to Simon. We are putting you on another flight tomorrow morning, so you can get at least a few hours of sleep, but it will be straight to the studio from the airport tomorrow” their security guard told them, “Marc is booking you rooms right now”

“Thank god, I love you, Paul, have I ever told you that?” Louis jumped up, looking more than relieved when he grabbed his stuff, “How much time do we have until we need to get up again?”

Liam gently woke up Niall who was still asleep against him and filled him in before both of them finally trotted behind the others who were already a few steps ahead with Paul. Harry and Louis were sharing a room as well as Zayn and Niall, leaving Liam alone for a change. While Liam had been feeling off a little all day, like they all have been, the walk to the hotel had left him a little lightheaded which nowadays scared him, always in fear of another headache interrupting his life.

“Louis” Liam said softly as they all were retreating into their rooms, stopping the eldest for a moment as the rest carried on, then suddenly hesitated, not sure what he was trying to do.

“What’s up, Liam?” Louis asked a little confused.

“I’m not sure… if I’m just tired… but I’ve been… really dizzy the last half hour… and…” Liam sighed, looking as if he was struggling to admit it, “I’m just scared a little”

“Of another headache?” Louis nodded empathetically and grimaced a little, “You are just dizzy right now, right?”

“Yeah” Liam replied slowly, feeling a little stupid now that it was said out loud, “I’m probably just tired, sorry”

“No, don’t apologise, I get it” Louis told him sincerely, “I’ll keep my phone on, just call if you start feeling worse, please?”

Liam nodded, “Thanks”

“Seriously, Li. I’d stay with you, but Harry was a little upset because I yelled at him earlier…” Louis sighed.

“I know… I’ll probably be fine… just needed to… don’t know, tell someone” Liam replied sheepishly.

“Of course, now get some rest and let’s hope you are not dizzy when you wake up” Louis pushed him towards his room with a soft chuckle.

Liam was not feeling any better the next morning, but not much worse either. The dizziness was still there, and he had to walk slowly, or he’d get lightheaded. But still, there was no excruciating pain in his head and that counted as a win for him.

Louis checked in with him first thing when they were all woken up and looked still worried even though Liam had told him he was still just feeling dizzy and tired. The older boy definitely worried too much; Liam just decided.

This time their flight was not delayed and the short flight back to London was rather smooth despite his vertigo. The car ride to the studio took quite some time and there were fans already there expecting them. They were trapped in the car for quite some time before the crowd was calmed down and taken care of with a path cleared for them.

While Liam had felt a little bit of tension in his neck and a soft pounding during the car ride, he hadn’t expected the screams, which they never really got used to but could deal with by now, to suddenly hurt this bad. Just before Paul finally opened the car door to get them out, he tugged at Louis’ arm sleeve, whispering, “Lou?”

The older boy looked at him and Liam didn’t even have to say anything as Louis just said, “Shit… now?”

Liam slowly whispered, “Yeah”

“What’s going on?” Zayn asked as the other three had no idea what they were talking about.

“Headache, dizzy” Louis said, not taking his eyes off Liam who once again looked miserable. It was scary and impressive how quick these came on and completely wrecked Liam.

Paul opened the door and the screams just intensified, making Liam flinch slightly who tried to mask his pain. Their security guard didn’t notice the change in mood with the boys and simply did his job, informing them, “We are stopping for pictures and autographs since we have enough time according to Marc, let’s go”

“Wait” Louis called out, moving forward, and climbing out first, whispering to Paul quickly who took a short glance at Liam before nodding. The rest of the boys slowly got out of the car and all of them went to the lines of fans and tried to sign as much as possible while chatting to them and took pictures with them. Paul stayed by Liam’s side the whole time, making sure he was alright after Louis had told him about the headache. He could see that the boy was not alright and when he swayed a little too much for the man’s liking, he grabbed him by the shoulder, softly whispering, “That’s enough”

Liam just glanced at him with sad eyes and gave the smallest indication of a nod before Paul led him past the screaming and complaining fans inside the building while the rest of the boys stayed behind still interacting with the fans. Marc frowned at Liam as he was waiting for them inside, “This is not happening again! You can’t not do this interview!”

“I’m fine, I’ll be fine, I can do it, I’m sorry” Liam muttered as Paul kept a steadying hand on his shoulder which had Marc stress, already grabbing his phone to make some calls. Not too long after, the rest of the band joined them, and they were led through the building they knew all too well by now.

The host, Nick Grimshaw was one of Harry’s closest friends and a good friend to the whole band. They were always happy to be in an interview with him. As a matter of fact, Harry just strolled ahead, walking into rooms and yelling, “Nicky! Where are youuuu?”

Niall was running behind him, laughing loudly as one of Nick’s co-workers informed them that he was just recording something and would greet them in a few minutes. As they were still talking to them, the studio door opened and Nick came out with a wide grin as Harry and Niall hugged him, before he moved on to Zayn, Louis and then Liam.

“What happened to you?” he asked with a frown and Liam just sighed, “I’m fine”

His words were barely audible and all running into each other, his eyes feeling heavy as he looked around the room, there were too many people to explain, really. No one was supposed to know that he was still struggling, their management team had told them.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows and sent him a glance that specifically told him that the conversation was not over yet. Still, they got settled in the studio, all sitting on chairs in front of three microphones and putting on headphones. Nick made some small talk with the rest of the boys while Liam tried to take a few deep breaths. Marc came over to him, whispering, “There’s no getting out of today or tomorrow. Do you have your meds with you? Can you get through this with them?”

Liam swallowed, trying to focus on his manager as he replied, “D-don’t have them… maybe, but… side effects”

“We’ll just have to deal with them, better than you passing out” Marc muttered, “I’ll have someone get them here as soon as possible, just push through it for now”

“Okay” Liam quietly replied. He had expected something along these lines. There had been too many occasions where he had gotten days off and their team had been pretty nice about it, considering in what a mess it had left the band so far. It really made Liam feel guilty about this whole thing, he keeps messing up and complicating things just because his head was messed up.

Nick got his attention again when they were just about to go on air. The time Liam took to react at all was not enough for him to actually respond and suddenly Nick was talking live on air and Liam had trouble following him. Still, he decided to answer the first two questions they were asked with their rehearsed standard answers. He didn’t know how long he could keep up and it was better to have said something now than not at all.

There were no questions asked to him specifically and the rest of the boys had his back, answering everything and keeping the tone light despite them seeing that their friend was feeling worse by every second.

Only a few minutes in, Liam couldn’t keep the headphones on any longer. The sound hurt so bad and he could barely tolerate his friends talking at a normal volume next to him. At first, he still tried to pay attention to the words, but he just couldn’t. Then he had to actually lean forward and let his head rest on his forearms on the table, trying to suppress a whimper of pain. He felt a gentle hand on his lower back, rubbing it comfortingly and he knew it was Zayn who was sitting right next to him.

Meanwhile Nick who had watched Liam closely while trying to conduct the interview announced that they were playing the band’s latest single and then took off his headphones as well with a confused expression, “Alright, what the hell is going on? Liam?”

Liam didn’t react, which made Nick look at Harry and Louis who he knew best out of the band. The four boys exchanged a few looks before Zayn said, “This is not leaving this room, right?”

“Of course,” Nick promised.

“You know about the concussion on the last tour, right?” Louis said, waiting for Nick to nod, before continuing, “He gets horrible headaches and vertigo completely randomly ever since”

“They’re post traumatic headaches because the concussion was really bad” Harry added softly, “That’s why he’s been missing so many interviews and stuff lately…”

“Shit” Nick said, “Will he be okay… should he… why is he here? Shit…”

There was no time to answer all his questions as the song was soon over and they continued with the interview. As soon as it was over, Liam tried to stand up and get out of the room. He needed to get out of there, but he didn’t get far, his vision swimming and whole body swaying.

Zayn had an arm around him, fast enough to stop him from completely passing out and Paul walked to them, helping him steady Liam as they quickly left the room. Harry, Louis, and Niall hung back a little, watching Zayn and Liam disappear, probably going ahead to the car.

“What the hell, lads, is he okay?” Nick was still freaking out a little now that they were off air, “That’s what happened at the show in LA, wasn’t it? When people thought he got drunk and left because of that?”

Louis grimaced, “Yeah… it gets pretty bad”

“It’s basically like the most horrible migraines you can think of” Niall said, “It takes a lot to get Liam down, but they completely fuck him up”

“I saw that!” Nick said loudly, before suddenly stopping, “Oh, that was what Ed was talking about last week when we talked about you guys on air!”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“You are aware of all the rumours and stuff online, right?”

“Sadly, yes” Louis sighed.

“Well… we had some game where listeners were calling in and someone made a joke about Liam being the one to leave the band because he seems fed up with it… Ed pretty much cursed the listener out and defended him and you guys… I played it of as a joke, but… he knows?”

“Helped us out at the award show, doesn’t know the details, though” Louis said with a soft smile, “Definitely need to send him a text about this”

“Boys, we need to go!” Marc called form the doorway and they quickly said their goodbyes.

Liam and Zayn were already in the car and Liam had his head hidden against Zayn’s neck, having wrapped himself around the older boy who was holding him tight.

“Marc got him his meds, he took them but no effect yet” Zayn said softly as they entered, motioning for them to be quiet.

They were soon ushered in a new building where the next interviews would be and had only a little time to get some lunch. While the band ate, Liam had sat down in the corner of the room on the floor, curling up. He couldn’t bear touching anything at the moment, not the other boys and definitely not any other fabric. His clothes were already irritating enough, and everything just hurt.

By the time the next interview started, Liam was in a daze. He was still hurting, but everything was dulled, and he felt like he was suffocated in a cloud of cotton as nothing around him made sense. There were moments where he could feel himself floating, or swaying more likely, wondering whether he was upside down or just feeling that way, usually reaching out to grab on to anything.

He must have done something wrong, because Marc pulled him out of the room after that first interview and told him to wait in a new room, making him lie down. Liam didn’t know what was wrong, he hadn’t even answered any questions, but he couldn’t be bothered to care about it. The medication must have knocked him out because the next thing he knew was that the cotton that was suffocating him had definitely lessened and the pain was worse again.

Lou their stylist was there again and Caroline who was in charge of their clothes as well. The other boys were in various stages of getting ready and dressed in the room as well.

“Liam, love, how are you feeling?” Louis was kneeling in front of him surprisingly fast and looked at him worriedly.

“Huh?” Liam asked, his voice rough.

“The show is soon, can you do it?” Louis asked and helped Liam sit up slowly. The vertigo was definitely worse again as well.

“What?” Liam asked as he had already forgotten Louis’ question again.

“The BRITs, Liam” Louis said with a worried frown as he glanced back at Zayn.

“Yeah, right, sure, yeah” Liam mumbled and somehow, he managed to get dressed and ready. Everything hurt but he had to do this. Everyone already hated him for missing so much and for never looking happy in interviews lately, he owed it to the fans to show them that he loved the band. And he didn’t want these stupid headaches to rule and ruin his life any more than they already have.

Louis and Zayn protectively led him over the red carpet again and all of the boys deflected any questions directed at him or answered for him so all he had to do was fake a smile and stay upright. Which was actually more of a challenge than what it sounded like.

Just before the show they were in another interview by a fellow friend and radio host, Roman Kemp. He reacted almost the same way Nick did earlier that day when he spotted Liam looking like death warmed over, his answers barely making any sense.

Liam saw Louis pulling the man over and probably explaining things to him while Zayn stayed on Liam’s side.

“How are you doing, babe?” Zayn kept his voice low as he asked.

“Hurts” Liam almost shrugged but decided against it, any movement making his world spin.

The night went just as bad as the last award show and Liam thought that maybe he was cursed and would never get to enjoy any award in the future. He couldn’t be bothered to keep up pretending, not even when the camera was on them like the last time. Instead, he didn’t even dare to get up to receive the award as the rest of the boys did, knowing he might face plant in front of everyone.

Halfway through the show, they were called backstage since they were meant to perform and Liam did focus all of his energy into the performance, knowing that he had to deliver. They were fortunately singing one of their slower songs, where they were sitting down, and Liam thanked god for that. He kept his eyes closed as much as was acceptable to keep the harsh lights out of his eyes and it still was not enough. They got through the first half of the performance great, but Liam just had to mess up the lyrics on his last few lines and he knew he would be in trouble for it. The fans had criticised him not even knowing his own lines a few times already.

After having tried so bad to push through this all day and still failing at the simplest tasks, all fight just left Liam. Walking off stage felt weird and while he didn’t remember anything past this point of the night, he knew that he passed out the second they were out of view. Later, Louis told him that Niall actually was the one to catch him as he had seen Liam sway and Zayn had rushed over to help before Paul had stepped in and taken him away, with Marc yelling at the rest of the band.

It had been quite the scene, Harry had told him afterwards as well, but Liam was completely unaware as he woke up in the hospital later that night, completely alone safe for Paul sitting in a corner of the room.

Liam couldn’t even ask what had happened or what was going on as he was in the most agonizing pain again and started throwing up from it. He was in and out of consciousness for a few more hours and he definitely preferred being out of it because he was not alright.

At some point Zayn had been there and he didn’t leave until sometime the next morning when Liam was finally more alert, and he had filled him on the events of the last night. The four of them had to stay until the end and had to attend an after party. Liam leaving in the middle of an event had sparked new rumours and when news got out that he was in the hospital again, things only got worse.

Zayn had to leave after lunch and Liam was left in the hospital for another day, mostly alone as the band fulfilled their responsibilities and did the rest of the promo tour.

They had rehearsals for tour lined up after one day off which was the day Liam was released from the hospital again. He was nowhere near alright, though, the headache was still there but it was bearable. This was the longest any headache had lasted, and it was the one with the worst symptoms. There were tears in his eyes constantly, he couldn’t keep any food down or handle anything touch his irritated skin for another day.

The first day of rehearsals Liam stayed home, he was still not ready for it, but the boys had to go, leaving him alone all day in his apartment. Staying home that day was his first mistake. The second one was going on twitter and actually looking into the rumours and the hate that he only had heard a fraction of this far.

In the end he called Marc, almost crying as he felt hurt and emotional and so guilty for letting down everyone. He needed to explain himself and let people know that he’d not been drunk or on drugs, illegal ones at the award shows. He was not bored of the band and wanted to quit which everyone apparently thought since he’d been missing so many interviews. The fans were hurt that he didn’t stop as much to sign and talk to them, referring to the radio interview where he had gone inside before either of the other boys.

Everything was a mess and he just wanted to explain.

“No, you are not allowed to talk about this. We’ve talked about this but letting the fans know you are sick is going to mess up our whole plan for you. Do not talk to anyone about this, I swear, Liam, we’ll handle the hate, it will blow over soon.” Marc was not budging, though. Liam didn’t understand why he couldn’t and while he wanted to argue with the man, he had trouble expressing his thoughts. Everything was still jumbled inside his mind and it was hard to grasp any thoughts. Another thing that made Liam give up, was the fact that he couldn’t tell whether he was reasonable or not, maybe he was overreacting, like Marc told him just moments ago.

After the call, he felt even more emotionally drained and sad. Everything that had happened was taking a toll on him, not only physically but mentally as well. He could feel himself getting quieter again, like at the beginning of the band, when he was so unsure of everything and he definitely felt more anxious now than before.

“Liam!” Louis’ voice surprised Liam quite some time later. He had no idea how long he’d been curled up under the blankets with tears streaming down his face as he was just trying to get his emotions back under control.

The older boy found him moments later, sitting up and furiously rubbing at his eyes as he tried to breathe normally and look unbothered.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked alarmed, “Is your head worse again?”

Liam shook his head, rasping out, “No, no, I’m fine, don’t worry, seriously”

“You don’t look fine, love, what’s wrong?” Louis said, jumping onto the bed next to Liam, putting both his arms on Liam’s shoulders and looking at him for a moment before pulling him into a hug.

“I’m fine” Liam protested, “My head is a lot better, don’t even feel dizzy anymore”

“That’s great, Liam, you are still crying, though”

“I’m not” Liam pouted, again reaching up to wipe away the last few tears. He couldn’t help melting into Louis’ hug, though. They were the best and Liam craved comfort after being alone all day but at the same time he definitely didn’t want to talk about it, “Where are the other boys?”

Louis chuckled, not pulling back from Liam, “Niall and Harry wanted to pick up dinner, Zayn went with them to supervise and to get them back here in one piece since they went without security”

Liam nodded against his shoulder slightly, not replying anything.

Later, the rest of the boys entered the apartment and found Liam fast asleep in Louis’ arms again with the older quickly hushing them. Immediately concern was etched on their faces as Liam had been mostly fine that morning when they had left.

Louis explained what had happened, “… but he didn’t want to tell me what got him so upset… definitely wasn’t the headache, though”

The group rather quickly moved on from this incident as tour rehearsals kept them busy but all of them could feel that Liam was more distant and closed off than before. He didn’t join in on the group activities even when he was feeling alright and had no headache for over two weeks. It worried them but at the same time there was not much they could do other than cuddle him lots and tell him they love him. Niall and Louis were great at that while Harry and Zayn resorted to different ways of showing Liam that they needed him.

Zayn was the one who got Liam to actually leave his apartment when they had a few hours without work and dragged him to comic shops or made him read some of his favourites. Harry, who had once again gotten in another phase of cooking and baking almost every day for the whole band mostly focussed on making Liam’s favourite meals and spent a lot of time with him. But he didn’t force him to do anything or make him talk, instead he just sat with him, with a book or some other kind of distraction while each of them did their own thing, enjoying the silence.

Liam on the other hand tried to make sure that he got enough sleep and was trying to avoid any stress that could trigger another headache as much as possible. During their European leg of the tour, he only got two headaches. The first one he woke up with after a concert on one of their few days off and he thanked god and whoever he could think off, as he just stayed in his bunk on the bus all day and let it run its course. The boys checked on him every now and then, taking turns to cuddle with him and just tried to help him through it by caring for him.

The second one didn’t go over as easy. It started in the middle of the concert and Liam actually stumbled, overcome by the sudden dizziness, and sunk to the floor in surprise for a moment. Harry held out his hand to help him up, thinking he only had slipped and Liam, still dazed, let him pull him up.

Harry realised something was wrong when Liam didn’t let go of his hand and swayed a little before catching himself and continuing on. Still, the younger one kept an eye on Liam, who suddenly was singing off beat and barely moving around the stage anymore.

Liam once again forced himself to push through the concert, having to sit down multiple times and ducking backstage to get his pain meds in order to stay conscious. While he managed not to pass out like he did after the BRITs, he still was a complete mess after the show, throwing up from the pain and unable to move after Louis had him lie down in his bunk. The oldest sat with him through the whole night, trying to make things as easy as possible, but nothing helped, until he fell into a restless sleep in the early morning hours and had to miss interviews and sound check the next day. While he was not feeling great the next evening, he still did the concert. Two days later he felt back to normal, no dizziness remaining.

After Europe, they flew to South America and Liam found out that high pitched noises definitely were a big trigger for his headaches along with not enough sleep. He had missed the first full press day due to another headache.

The fans were not happy, and they were very vocal about it, during interviews with audiences that followed and the concerts as well. It hurt, knowing that Liam was not allowed to clear things up.

Things got even worse when during their second concert, fans started throwing things at him and they were not stuffed animals, bras, or the occasional costume they usually got. They were hard objects, like shoes, phones and so on and they were most definitely aimed at Liam.

The boy didn’t realise it at first, though, laughing when he managed to catch a phone and threw it back into the audience but when a shoe hit him in the side he grimaced, and Louis came over to check on him. His side was still sore sometimes and definitely still tender and sensitive where the scar was still healing and when a shoe hit him it just hurt a lot for a few minutes.

A few songs in and it was forgotten, though. Liam started to question things when a shoe flew by him during Little Things where they were sitting on the steps of the stage, Louis, and Niall close to him and Zayn a little further away with Harry. Before he could come to a conclusion another object came his way and with not enough time to duck it, it hit him right on the side of the head.

Black spots appeared in front of his eyes for a moment and all he felt was pain, unable to grasp what even had hit him this time. He tried to blink the spots and bleariness away but all he could do was let out a pained groan as waves of pain shot up his spine and he couldn’t tell which side was up again. Liam could feel hands on his body, and someone was shouting at him before he was pulled up. He barely could coordinate his feet as he was pulled and only stumbled.

“Liam, shit, sit down” he could make out Louis’ voice this time as he was pushed to sit down again. He could see a little better now and saw that he was backstage with Louis. Another wave of nausea hit him as he was trying too hard to think or maybe it was because he was squinting, trying to see better. Either way, all he could do was lean to the side as he vomited painfully. This was slowly getting old, throwing up from pain was not fun and Liam gladly could do without.

If Louis hadn’t held on to him, he surely would have slipped out of his seat and fallen to the floor by now. Once he stopped heaving, Louis pulled him up and made him lean back a little and Liam reached up to hold his head as the older was turned away, talking to someone.

“Don’t touch… shit, no, you are bleeding a little, love” Louis softly called out grabbing his arm.

“My head” Liam whimpered, sounding more confused than anything.

“I know, Liam, don’t touch it, Paul is getting someone to look at it. It’s not bleeding a lot which is good” Louis told him, “Look at me, please… how much does your head hurt?”

“More dizzy” Liam mumbled, “F-feels… like just the start of a headache… what happened?”

“You got hit in the head” Louis explained with a frown, “Like… two minutes ago”

“Really?” Liam asked, letting his eyes flutter closed for just a second, but then a medic was there and prodding at him, touching him, and asking questions. As the time went on, he started to feel the headache intensifying. There was already a bump on the side of his head and a cut which was bleeding a little. But the medic told him it wasn’t bad and to just take it easy for the rest of the night.

While Liam tried to tell Louis and Paul that he could push through it and continue, they didn’t let him, even though he had done it before. Paul led him to the dressing room where Liam was then left alone with his dizziness and headache which just got worse as time went on. By the time the boys got off stage and ran to him, Liam was close to tears once again.

They were taken to their hotel as they usually didn’t use a tour bus in South America and the boys all went with him into his room. Pushing through the crowds of fans was not easy as they tried to get into the hotel and Liam was actually in tears as they finally got into the room.

Zayn made him take a quick shower as the rest of the boys did the same and when he finally was done, barely able to get dressed himself without falling over due to the vertigo, Liam found that Louis was already sitting on his bed, waiting for him. The oldest band member pulled him in his arms and just held him as gently as possible as Liam waited for the pain to lessen or pass.

Niall and Harry were also close, but Liam couldn’t be bothered to figure out where or why, he was just glad when someone decided to turn off the lights. That still did not shut up the fans that were screaming and singing outside the hotel. They were used to that, it always happened here since their fans in this country were passionate and amazing and just wanted to show them, they loved them. Usually, they could appreciate it, but it was hurting Liam.

Louis got Liam to take his pain meds again, even though he only was supposed to up the dose if it was absolutely necessary. It took the edge off, but Liam still had tears rolling down his face and tensed up whenever the noise outside got louder.

“For fucks sake…” Zayn muttered in a whisper about half an hour later, then explained, “I twittered and told them to be quiet because we want to sleep. Now they are calling me ungrateful and are basically mad at me”

Niall groaned, “Oh man… any other day, seriously, they can scream all they want any other day”

Louis pulled out his phone and the other three watched him as he glared as he typed away. All of them but Liam checked their feed after he had dropped it on the bed again. Harry actually flinched while Zayn smirked, and Niall looked unbothered.

Louis had yelled over twitter at the fans:

Throwing things at someone on stage and aiming at the head is just disgusting. Stop throwing stuff, you literally made Liam bleed tonight and hurt his head.

Stop hating on Zayn as well. We are just trying to sleep and asked nicely. Fuck off, seriously and stop the damn screaming while you are at it. We love you but this is not okay, not after what happened tonight

“That’s not the wildest you’ve tweeted so far” Niall commented with a little grin after a moment.

“Wait for it… I have a plan” Louis just muttered, before pressing a gently kiss on top of Liam’s head who had flinched at their voices again, whispering, “Sorry, love”

Of course, the screaming didn’t stop, it went on for the next few hours and only half an hour after either of them had said anything, the door to the room flew open and Marc stood in the middle of the room, having turned on the lights. Liam had cried out in pain and tried to get closer to Louis who had tightened his arms around Liam in surprise.

“What the hell do you think you are doing!? I left you alone for one damn concert and you-“

“Shut up!” Louis’ voice was low and dark as he almost growled at their manager.

“Zayn” he said more gently once the man had stopped talking. He slowly handed over Liam to Zayn who took his place as Louis got out of bed and almost charged for Marc, angrily pushing him out of the room, hissing, “You bloody asshole, get out of here”

“Could one of you check that he won’t kill Marc?” Zayn asked, looking pointedly at Harry and Niall who both scrambled out of the room, looking scared. Harry took the time to shut off the lights again and Zayn was thankful at that as Liam relaxed a little again.

“I’m sorry, babe” Zayn whispered, pressing a soft kiss to the side of Liam’s head as he tried to comfort his friend who was in agony as much as possible.

Meanwhile Louis had Marc pushed against a wall outside in the hallway. If it weren’t for Liam being just in the other room, he definitely would have yelled at Marc, but as it was, he only growled and hissed.

“This is your damn fault, Marc! They are attacking him now because you and your damn boss won’t let him defend himself! They are literally aiming at him on stage and are trying to take him down!” Louis angrily told him, “Don’t you dare tell me I overreacted on twitter with what I said, that was barely a thing!”

“Louis, let him go!” Harry who was running out of the room with Niall told him and Louis did as told, taking a step back before continuing.

“You are actively putting Liam in danger and we won’t let that happen again!” Louis stated determined, “We are doing an interview where we explain things, or this is over. We won’t let you kill him! Do you know how dangerous it would be for him to get another concussion right now?!”

“You can’t do that, Louis, stop throwing a tantrum!” Marc actually rolled his eyes and Niall and Harry both grabbed Louis so he wouldn’t charge at the man.

“Fuck you, Marc, seriously, call your boss and tell him what I said. This band is over if you don’t let him do that or actually try to keep him safe any time soon!” Louis threatened.

Marc didn’t look like he was going to do as told, so the oldest band member said, “Fine, I’ll call Simon myself. Get out of here, I’ll ask him to send Natalie here. She was not much better but at least tried to keep us safe while she was with us during the last tour”

Louis turned to the other boys, “Any of you got your phone on you?”

Niall handed over his with a serious nod.

Louis dialled Simon’s number before turning towards Marc who was still standing against the wall, “Get out of here and if you dare to get close to Liam, I will not let them hold me back”

Niall went back into the room while Louis and Harry went to one of their other rooms to make the necessary calls.

When Harry and Louis got back to the hotel room, the screams were still going outside and Liam was on his side, laying halfway on top of Zayn who had his arms around him, holding one of his hands, while Niall was cuddling Liam from behind, hugging him and holding a cold cloth to Liam’s head.

The moment Liam saw Louis and Harry he looked at them pleadingly with glazed over and pain filled eyes. He reached out for Louis with one arm and Zayn really didn’t seem to mind as he moved out of the way and almost ran for the bathroom as Louis took his place.

Liam nuzzled his head against Louis’ neck and held on to him tightly while Harry laid down on Niall’s other side and Zayn sat down on the foot of the bed.

Another hour later, the noise outside the room finally died down and another hour later, Liam’s breathing finally evened out as the other four boys finally started to let out relieved breaths and sighs. Louis didn’t dare move, though, just as Niall who was still plastered against Liam’s back. Zayn and Harry retreated to their own rooms after a while, though too tired to stay awake anymore and the bed too small for them to get comfortable.

The other three boys were asleep rather quickly as well after Zayn placed a blanket over them before him and Harry left.

Paul woke them up the next morning. Harry and Zayn had followed him into the room and had jumped onto the bed, waking up Niall, Louis, and Liam. The later only whimpered and tried to turn away from the light and noise.

The sound of discomfort from Liam had Louis alert rather quickly, the oldest brushing the hair out of Liam’s face to look at him, “How’s your head, love?”

“Hurts” Liam whimpered, not even daring to open his eyes as he turned and fidgeted around until he almost had buried himself beneath Louis, hiding his head under his arm.

“I guess I’m ordering you room service” Paul said, keeping his voice low, “Marc left this morning. Natalie will be here in a few hours. We need you for one interview this morning, the rest of the day is off. You’ll have a meeting with Natalie in the afternoon before the concert and we’ll go from there”

“Liam can’t do the interview” Zayn frowned at Paul.

“Obviously. I’m not going to make him go and Natalie won’t be here in time. As long as you can handle the questions it’s up to you” Paul nodded, “I don’t know about the show tonight, though. You’ll have to figure this one out with Natalie”

“I’m not letting him back on stage until we cleared things up. It’s the last one here until we go to the North American leg of the tour” Louis said with a shake of his head.

“I think we can convince her” Zayn nodded at him, glancing back down at Liam who was still tense and hadn’t moved or said anything so far.

“The pain meds are wearing off, should we get him to take some more?” Harry asked once Paul was gone again, with the promise to get them some breakfast to the room.

“Liam, how bad is it?” Louis checked in with Liam who just tensed up again a little.

“M-make it stop…” Liam whimpered, following up with a pleading “Please, Lou”

Louis’ face fell at that and he could see that it was breaking everyone’s heart in the room. They sat Liam up slowly, both him and Niall holding on to him as Liam’s eyes roamed the room unfocussed before they slipped closed again. Louis got him to take his medication but didn’t let him lie back down again, as their breakfast arrived and managed to get him to eat a piece of toast before giving up and letting Liam rest again.

By the time Paul got the other four boys for their interview, Liam was asleep again, fortunately.

The interview was painful, awkward, and filled with vague answers all while the boys just wanted to get out of there again. The second the interview was over, the boys were in a rush, trying to get back to their hotel rooms.

Liam was not in the bed like they had expected and after panicking for a second, Zayn had the thought to check the bathroom where Liam was curled up in front of the toilet, looking even worse than before as his face was pale and he was crying again.

“Zayn let’s get him back to bed” Louis whispered, pushing past Zayn as Niall and Harry hovered outside of the room.

While the two oldest tried to lift Liam as gently as possible and got him settled back in bed, Louis ordered, “Niall, get a cloth for his head. Harry, grab the bin in case he gets sick again…”

By the time things had calmed down a little again, the door opened, and Natalie stood in the doorway, her brows furrowing as she took in the scene.

“Do not touch that light switch” Zayn almost growled, “And close the door”

“Of course,” Natalie replied, matching her voice volume to his as she slowly stepped inside the room. The boys were in a familiar position to the night before. Liam clinging to Louis with Niall cuddled up against him. Harry and Zayn were both sitting on chairs, though.

“Can’t leave you alone anymore, can I?” Natalie said softly, “We need to talk about tonight, can we talk here, or should we move somewhere else?”

“Don’t leave” Liam whimpered against Louis’ neck who rubbed his hand up and down his back comfortingly.

“If you need all four of us, we need to stay here” Louis whispered, “But make it quick”

Natalie nodded and pulled over a chair, settling down before starting.

“Tonight is your last concert. I’ve moved the schedule around a little to make room for you to do an interview about all this once we are in New York. I’ll try and get this done how you want it, as much as possible but we have some restrictions from the label as well. We can go over them tomorrow, though, before the interview.”

“What about tonight?” Zayn grumbled, not looking happy.

“I’m supposed to get all five of you on stage but if Liam physically can’t go on… there is nothing they can do about it” she said with a pointed look.

“Thank god” Louis sighed out, “What is our schedule tomorrow?”

“You are supposed to fly out to New York directly after the concert. I changed the flight to tomorrow morning, though. The interview is around noon, New York time and there is no moving it” Natalie said apologetic, “That’s literally the only time slot I could find before your next concert”

“If Liam isn’t feeling any better, we can explain it. As long as we get to explain things, it’s fine, right?” Harry looked to Louis for confirmation. The older boy nodded.

“Good. We can figure the rest out some other time, then” Natalie smiled, “I’ll leave you to it for now. Paul will come get you for sound check later, though”

She got back up after taking a few notes on her notepad and then glanced at Liam, “One question, though… did someone check Liam over after last night? Is it normal for this to last this long?”

“A medic looked him over at the concert… the headaches last anywhere between a few hours to two or three days… it still is in the normal range, but the last time it was that painful he passed out after the BRITs and that ended in the hospital” Niall said thoughtfully.

“I’ll have a doctor come by and take a look at him just to be sure before we get on another plane” Natalie told them and was about to leave.

“Natalie” Louis called out softly, looking at her with a soft smile as she turned around, “Thanks”

“No problem. We need to keep our favourite band together and alive, don’t we?” Natalie joked, “Marc doesn’t quite grasp that concept yet, I think, as he just blindly follows orders”

The boys stayed with Liam as long as they could. By the time Paul got them for sound check, Liam was feeling a little better. He was able to open his eyes without crying and hadn’t thrown up again.

Louis still hovered and worried as long as possible, not wanting to leave Liam alone at all.

After the show they all got to their own rooms to shower first before checking in with Liam. The boy was fast asleep and looked a little better all together, so they just let him sleep and returned to their respective rooms for the night.

Harry was awake first the next morning and checked in on Liam who was still completely knocked out. By the time the rest of the boys had turned up and Natalie had come as well, Liam was slowly stirring, but not waking up fully.

“I don’t know if you talked to Liam yet, but I had a doctor here during the concert. The hit was not bad enough to seriously injure him. It just triggered a headache, and he should be fine with some more rest” Natalie told them first up. That all relieved the boys since they had been worried about it.

“We have a tight schedule today, though, could you all pack up before breakfast so we can be on our way as soon as possible?” she asked them moments later.

“We already did pack” Harry told her proudly, “Only need to get Liam’s stuff sorted”

“Great, Liam, could you talk to me for a minute? I promise I won’t bother you until the interview again” Natalie’s voice softened a little as she addressed Liam who still had his eyes closed.

Liam sighed a little but did look at her with tired eyes. There were dark circles under them as well and he still looked more exhausted than the boys who had done the concert on their own.

“Do you feel any better yet?” she asked him curiously, smiling a little when he nodded slowly.

“Alright enough to do the interview later?” she now sounded more serious, “We can figure something out if not”

“I don’t know” Liam replied in a rough voice, but he was honest, “I’m not as… dizzy anymore”

“That usually is a good sign” Louis nodded, then told Natalie, “But not a sure thing, yet”

“Alright… it’s easier to deal with this if we knew in advance, but we’ll manage” Natalie told them neutrally, “Paul will get you in twenty minutes to leave”

While the rest of the boys had breakfast, Liam spent the remaining twenty minutes grabbing a rather slow shower and getting dressed. Harry used the time he was in the bathroom to quickly pack his stuff up so Liam couldn’t even try to do it himself.

The lights were still low in the room and Louis stopped Liam from walking out the door, handing him sunglasses, “It will be bright out there”

“Thanks” Liam whispered and was glad for Louis’ help throughout the day until they landed in New York. The world was a loud and bright place which usually was beautiful but at that exact moment not that ideal for Liam.

When they got into the elevator inside the hotel, Natalie and Paul with them, the woman explained, “We have the conference room already sat up. You are all going to be there to answer some questions, but this is for Liam to explain, as much as he can. If you start feeling worse again, tell us and we’ll go from there, alright, Liam?”

Liam nodded slowly as they were led into a hallway.

“Great, I’m not going over the rules with you, since they are mostly useless anyway” Natalie continued, “Caroline and Lou are waiting in the second conference room to get you ready, just come on in here once you are done”

She pointed at the respective doors and ushered them into one of them. Lou and Caroline were waiting as promised with outfits for them while Lou already had her tools ready to style them.

“What am I supposed to do with you, Liam?” Lou sighed once Liam was dressed and sitting in front of her, “You look like a ghost… did you even sleep at all?”

Liam shrugged a little, then pointed at the side of his head where the cut was, “C-could you not touch that? It hurts”

“I’ll be very careful” Lou promised before getting to work.

When they went into the other room another surprise was waiting for them. No one had ever mentioned who would interview them and neither of the boys expected Nick to be there.

“Nicky!” Harry called out, jumping at the man who was just getting up from his seat where he had been chatting to Natalie. Louis and Niall were not far behind with hugs while Zayn and Liam were a little further away, waiting for the rest of the band to greet Nick. The older man then walked over, quickly hugging Zayn before looking at Liam with concern.

“Hey” Liam simply said in a rough voice.

Nick just shook his head and pulled him into a hug, before taking a look at the side of Liam’s head, “That definitely went too far, Liam. They are telling me you are feeling alright enough for this?”

“I think so” Liam replied, “Just please don’t yell or point any lights at my face. I might pass out”

“Good to know” Nick joked, “Would be rather unfortunate”

The boys and Nick chatted for a little longer while they all got microphones on them and the camera was set up. The boys were placed on a large sofa with Liam in the middle, Louis, and Zayn protectively on either of his side with Niall and Harry on the far ends each. Nick was sitting at an angle opposite them in a chair.

The introductions and small talk were over quick, and Liam actually grew a little nervous as he didn’t really think about what he was going to say in advance. He was used to being prepared but this time he was just thrown in there and he had no idea what Nick was going to ask exactly. Before he could work himself up too much about this with worry, Nick was already addressing him.

“Liam, how are you feeling? A fan hit you with something two nights ago at the concert and made you miss the last one in South America, like we all know. Can you tell us what happened?” Nick asked.

Liam stuttered for a moment, before saying, “I’m good now… I got hit with something, like you said and hurt my head a little so I couldn’t do the concert. I’m really sorry for the fans”

Louis scowled next to him and Liam flinched a little, unsure at what was wrong.

“You are not good, and you don’t need to be sorry” Louis told him, sounding upset. Liam started to panic a little. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say, and it scared him. Everyone already hated him and nothing he was going to say would change that.

“I’m sorry?” he softly said, looking at Louis who just groaned with another shake of his head.

“Louis don’t be so impatient” Zayn leaned over Liam to flick the oldest in the head a little scoldingly.

Nick chuckled, “Would you two please butt out for a minute so I can ask my questions?”

“Sorry” Zayn and Louis apologised.

“Great, now, Liam, the fans haven’t really seen much of you since the last tour and a lot of them are confused with all the rumours going around. Could you explain why exactly you were unable to attend the last concert?”

“When I got hit… I mean it was something hard, I didn’t see what exactly what it was… well, it started bleeding and it triggered another headache, which was really bad, and I just couldn’t… I wanted to do the concert, but I couldn’t, and these headaches just make me dizzy and confused and I barely remember anything before this morning” Liam tried to explain.

“Can you elaborate on the fact that you said another headache?” Nick asked, sending Louis a warning glance as he seemed like he wanted to interrupt again.

“When I got the concussion… like… at the end of last tour… it was like, really bad and now I get migraine like headaches and vertigo which… I mean, sometimes I end up in the hospital because they get bad enough and yeah, that happened again after I got hit” Liam replied, sounding unsure.

“They’re called post traumatic headaches and vertigo” Harry supplied, adding, “Just so you know we are not making anything up. He had to go through tons of tests to rule anything else out and we don’t know whether they’ll keep happening or not yet”

“Yeah, right, what Harry said” Liam nodded slowly.

“The thing with what happened is… we know people have been upset with Liam for being absent so much but it’s not his fault and the hate he’s been getting is just unfair. It went too far at that concert because people kept aiming at him and not like they usually do. They definitely wanted to hurt him and that’s just…”

“It’s disgusting, honestly” Zayn added when Louis trailed off.

“What do you mean by that?” Nick asked Zayn then.

“They kept throwing shit at Liam all night. If you don’t like him, that’s fine, then don’t come to the concert, we don’t want you there anyway. What is wrong with people wanting to actually hurt someone just because they don’t like someone? You don’t get to decide who gets to stay in the band and if anyone deserves it it’s Liam. He’s been going through hell the last few weeks and people just assume things and make things harder” Zayn looked more than angry now.

Liam looked at him surprised at that. He hadn’t realised that Zayn was this angry at the fans.

“Was that the reason for your angry tweets at the fans?” Nick asked him.

“No, we don’t consider the people who try to hurt Liam fans, but we did want them to be quiet that night, because…” Zayn trailed off, looking at Liam who subtly nodded.

“Liam was having one of the worst headaches I’ve seen him have and we saw him after the initial concussion and after he got admitted after passing out during the BRITs. The fans are loud, and we love them but all we wanted that night was for them to be quiet because it was hurting Liam.” Louis explained.

“It’s not easy to watch” Niall added, “It can get really bad and sometimes the pain meds don’t help much”

“I’m sorry” Liam simply added, looking guilty, “I don’t want to worry you guys”

“Not your fault, Li, stop apologising” Harry told him with a shake of his head.

“You passed out at the BRITs?” Nick asked next and it didn’t seem like he wanted to ask that, it just slipped out because he was shocked to find out about that, “I interviewed you guys that morning? You already looked like death during it! It got worse?”

Louis straight out laughed at that, slightly hysterical, as Liam nodded slowly, “Yeah… but I don’t remember much past the performance… I mean… I was really lightheaded the whole time which was why I was too scared to stand up and get the awards because… I mean… I wanted to be there but… I mean… I wouldn’t have made it to the performance if I did… I know I messed up again and that is something the fans have been angry about but… my memory hasn’t been that great since… I really try to remember the lines, but I can’t and… I’m really sorry”

“Liam” Louis said softly and put his arm around Liam’s shoulder.

“Yeah, right, sorry, I don’t remember what happened after that… I missed a few things I think which got people upset as well…” Liam quickly finished.

“We got off stage and all I saw was Niall trying to catch Liam who just tilted sideways and I tried to help him” Zayn explained slowly, “Things got pretty hectic after that. They kept him in the hospital for a while to monitor him and do some more tests”

“I’m seriously tired of those” Liam muttered a little light-heartedly which made his bandmates smile and chuckle.

“I can believe that… So, this definitely debunks the drunken rumours. They started after the award show in LA you attended and left early as well” Nick stated.

“That’s the only rumour that made me laugh so far” Niall stated before Liam could answer with a chuckle, “Did people forget that Liam is the one out of us that doesn’t actually drink any alcohol? Like, we had so many interviews where he had to explain that he only has one kidney and people started _that_ rumour!? Do you think we would be stupid enough to let him hurt himself like this or that Liam would be stupid enough to risk his health like that? He drinks like two beers in total during one year”

Liam smiled a little at that, he hadn’t thought about it this way.

Nick laughed as well, “Great, so drugs are ruled out as well?”

Liam said, “Well, I have a prescription for the headaches and vertigo and they completely mess with me, but I’m supposed to take them. No illegal drugs, though, just medication”

“There’s one interview where Liam is on the medication and our management hasn’t let him do one ever again when he had to take any medication” Zayn explained, “They cut the funny parts out, though”

“I don’t remember that either, what did I say or do?” Liam frowned and turned to look at his bandmates.

“Nothing bad, you just were a little out of it, didn’t even say anything, love” Louis assured him.

“I need to see that video” Nick commented, “So, would you like to comment about how a lot of people think you are tired of the band always look like you want to be anywhere but there during concerts or interviews?”

“It’s not true” Liam said softly, looking sad, “I love the band and I love what we are doing, and I hate that people think that. Without the boys I don’t think I would have made it through the last few weeks and… I just… I mean… I saw some of these comments online and… most of the pictures were from times when I was just trying to hold out as long as possible without taking any medication or… like, trying to look neutral when I have a headache, because… I just never wanted people to know… I’m sorry if it seemed like that but… A lot of times I was just trying to get through it and maybe they are right that I didn’t want to be there at that time… well, I wanted to be there but like, without the headache, if that makes sense”

“We found out that pushing through it and Liam forcing himself to do interviews with the headaches usually end in much worse situations. Perfect example is the BRITs again. Like, the first sign of a headache starting is Liam getting really dizzy and he told me the night before that he was scared that another one was starting. We brushed it off, though, hoping that he was just tired because we all were after a few days of doing press with barely any sleep and then we had your interview in the morning and it got really bad over the course of the day, but Liam didn’t stop. The only thing he actually did was not stay around and sign like we did, and he got shit for that, but fans are loud, and Liam gets really sensitive to light and noise” Louis explained further, “And we already explained how that day ended. Liam was in the hospital for a while and had to take two more days off after that”

“You seriously need to take some days off, Liam, like a full on holiday to rest” Nick told him with a shake of his head.

“I can’t, we have the tour and a ton of other stuff to do… I just… I just wanted the fans to know that the rumours are not true, and I really appreciate them and the life we have, but… I might have days where I can’t do what I’m supposed to and I’m really sorry about that”

“We are planning to take some weeks off after this tour, though” Zayn added, “We need at least a few days since Liam has some more tests and stuff lined up which we’ve been putting off for the tour.”

Liam grimaced a little but nodded at that.

“Are you really feeling better today, and will you attend the next concert?” Nick asked Liam now.

Liam hesitated a little, looking at Louis and they exchanged a few glances, then he asked, “Honestly?”

Nick nodded, “That would be great, yeah”

“I’m a lot better than yesterday, that was really bad, but… my head is still killing me… like seriously, I wanted to do this, but I can’t wait for it to be over… I don’t know about the concert, yet, but I want to”

“If it was up to me, I wouldn’t let him back onstage until we could be sure that no one would throw anything his way ever again” Louis said.

“You can’t do that” Liam told him with a raised eyebrow.

“We know that Liam, we still want to, though” Harry laughed at him, “Was that all or do you have more questions?”

“I believe that was everything, anything to add on your side?” Nick asked his friend with a smirk.

“Actually, yes” Harry smirked, “If either of you continues to hate on Liam, we don’t want you as a fan, because Liam is our favourite. If anyone ever throws something hard on the stage again, anywhere near Liam I will personally find you and make you regret-“

“Harry!” Liam called out shocked, “You can’t threaten people and you can’t tell them what to feel or think! It’s fine if they hate me… just please, don’t give me another concussion because that shit hurts and I’m supposed to not get one again”

Louis nodded, “I agree with Harry, and yes, another concussion would be bad”

Nick closed the interview after that and the second the man stopped talking, Liam let his head fall forwards, catching it in his hands with his elbows resting on his knees.

“Oh god… that was so hard… my head…” Liam softly said, almost whimpering.

“Let’s get you out of here, love, you can lie down now again” Louis softly told him as both Zayn and Louis helped Liam to stand up.

“Natalie, where are our rooms?” Harry asked, getting up as well, walking towards their manager. Niall and Nick stayed seated, both watching what was going on until Louis and Zayn had guided Liam out of the room.

“Is he going to be alright?” Nick asked Niall worriedly.

The Irish boy shrugged, “Depends… I just hope he falls asleep right away… I hate this… “

“I can only imagine” Nick nodded, “I mean… I don’t think I’d ever see Liam like this”

Niall nodded, “We’ve never seen him like this before and we’ve all been through some hard stuff during our time in the band and Liam… I mean, he always is the one taking care of us and… he’s supposed to be indestructible, at least I always thought he was, you know… he’s like, our big brother and… I don’t know. It has just been a few hard weeks, sorry”

Nick nodded empathically, “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything, seriously, especially when you are back in London”

Niall nodded, “Thanks… I’ll go check on them now… I really hope he didn’t throw up again”

“Huh?” Nick frowned at him as Niall stood up, putting down the microphone.

“The pain… it gets really bad. Liam doesn’t really cry or anything, sometimes his eyes water from the light and stuff but when he starts throwing up from the pain it’s bad. That’s when we usually consider taking him to the hospital again, or when he passes out”

Later that day, the boys saw the video go online and were surprised to find that it was uncut. At the end, the cameras did cut off, but the audio of Niall and Nick talking and Liam explaining that his head hurt was still heard. This was not supposed to happen but apparently their management team didn’t care enough to actually cut out the end parts like they usually would. If Niall had known it would be posted as well, he never would have said a words after the cameras cut.

Liam didn’t attend any interviews that day while the rest of the boys had to after lunch. He did take the time to call his family and warn them about the video going out as he had not entirely kept them in the loop with everything that had been going on.

After having that day and night to rest in the hotel, Liam felt a lot better the following day.

During the first few interviews he attended he kept getting asked questions about the video and he did try to be as truthful as possible. It was just hard to admit for him that yes, the headaches often got the better of him and yes, maybe he was weak or broken or whatever the fans were now describing him as. It was weird, the reaction he received, and Liam actually didn’t want to know what people were thinking anymore.

The first show that kicked of the North American leg of the tour was good, Liam enjoyed playing it. Maybe he just imagined it as he had seen that he got a lot more support online now, but he did feel better on stage. He felt like the fans didn’t hate him as much anymore and he actually got more cheers than before when he sang or talked which felt nice.

He got a few shows in before another episode happened, and he missed a concert. That evening was a lot different than the last time he had missed a concert in South America. It was actually amazing that the fans still supported him and while they were disappointed, they didn’t blame him.

They ended the leg of the tour in LA, back where Liam had fallen and hurt himself bad enough about half a year ago. After that they were going back home to London for about a week, followed by more shows in Europe and a few weeks in Australia and Asia.

While Liam had wanted nothing more than to go home to see his family, he had to stay in London. The headaches were supposed to lessen over the months and hopefully disappear within the year, but so far, they were still the same. He had a few more appointments and tests lined up to get his head checked out before the next tour. It surprised him when Louis opted to stay in London with him instead of using the few free days to see his family like the rest of them did.

The oldest band member fulfilled his role as big brother perfectly as he took Liam to his appointments and took care of him as much as possible when he was told that the concussion must have caused more damage than originally expected. His short term memory was still awful which affected him every day still. The headaches were as persistent and horrible as ever and all Liam got, was a different mixture of pain meds and another follow up a few weeks later. He might have to live with these for a while if not for the rest of his life.

Liam, who had still hoped things would get better at one point was heartbroken and disappointed. Louis watched him mope around for a while until he decided that Liam needed to have some fun. He called up the rest of the boys and a day later they dragged Liam out of his flat to live a little. Liam was grateful for it, really, he was, but he was also still upset and sad.

It had been such a stupid little thing, falling on stage and his life was impacted horribly. It was painful and exhausting and scary. Their job was stressful, loud, and bright, everything that he was supposed to avoid now.

When they were in Australia, he found out that the new medication was working a lot better, at least. He was still dizzy and couldn’t move without black spots appearing, but the pain was dulled and when he was lucky, he just passed out and slept through the headache.

He missed a day of press and a performance on some TV show, but he jumped back from it a lot quicker than the last one. They managed to convince Natalie to let them have some more time off than planned and actually got to enjoy their time in the beautiful country before moving on to Asia. Liam didn’t get any headaches there and that confirmed his fears. The people there were a lot more respectful and quieter than back in America or Europe and while he couldn’t say for sure, he definitely suspected it was one of his worst triggers.

Louis came to him with the same conclusion a while later and Liam simply panicked. He couldn’t keep going with the headaches, but he also couldn’t give up some of the best part of their lives. It was not just him but also the other four boys who were part of the band.

When it neared the end of the tour, it was the rest of the boys that more or less ambushed him. He had not voiced his concerns to either of them, and was surprised when Harry said, “We are taking some time off after this”

“What? Why?” Liam sat up quickly. He’d been lounging on his bed in the hotel room after one of their shows as each of them had done their own thing for a while.

“We’ve been going non-stop for years and we deserve a few weeks off” Zayn shrugged.

“And we think you need some time off to heal properly as well” Niall added, sounding careful as he said so, “We are all tired and we don’t want to jump into the next album straight away. I can’t even imagine how exhausted you are”

“We don’t want you to suffer anymore just because you want to make us or the fans happy. We are telling you this because it’s already decided, and we can’t have you protest this because we are worried. Your doctor said the best shot at getting rid of this is rest and no stress and you can’t get that with how we’ve been living” Louis said.

Liam just looked at the four boys, all spread out over the room and looking at him expectantly, for a moment. At first, he barely could comprehend what was going on and his lack of a response prompted the others to speak up again.

“It’s already been discussed with management” Zayn told him softly, “We have two months off, we do have some time in the studio in case we want to write and we’ll split our time between being home and in London, because we still want to spend time with each other”

“Yeah, we can do some recording as well if we want to, but we don’t have to” Louis said.

“I probably won’t be able to go longer than a week without seeing all of you, we’ll have to have a schedule to see each other but no other commitments” Niall said.

Harry nodded, “We need to have some fun together outside of the band, maybe we can go on vacation together”

The boys all were looking at each other for confirmation so neither of them saw the first few tears rolling down Liam’s face. Only when a sob broke free, they looked at him and at first neither moved, looking scared. They couldn’t tell what Liam was upset about, whether he was angry or worried or something else.

Liam brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his arms as he tried to stop his emotional reaction, but he couldn’t.

“Liam, love, it’s okay” Louis was the first to do something, walking up to where Liam was sitting on the bed and simply wrapping his arms around him, hugging him tight. Soon after Niall joined, wrapping himself tightly around Liam as well, followed by Zayn and Harry as they ended up in a pile of limbs on Liam’s bed, who was still crying. Neither of them pushed or asked questions, though, they just let him express his emotions until the sobs died down and Liam was only sniffling.

“Liam… are you… upset?” Louis asked carefully after a while and Liam shook his head.

“I’m sorry” Liam whispered, trying to catch his breath and sort his thoughts.

“No need to be sorry, we want this. We can’t watch you do this anymore. You are hurting all the time and we can see it” Zayn told him, “We need this as well and we want it. It’s just a little break, babe”

“I was so scared” Liam said, staring ahead, meeting neither of the boys’ eyes, “I don’t… think I could… I just… didn’t want to disappoint, was going to try”

“We know” Louis simply said, “We know you would have tried to keep going just to make us happy, but it wouldn’t make us happy, not anymore. All we want is for you to get better and to spend time with you. We can record another album in a few months as well and we can tour in a year as well. Even if the headaches won’t go away, we can change the schedule, we can slow down a little”

Liam let out a sob again and this time his friends knew it was one of relief and hope.

"Management is already working out statements we'll release after the last show. It will be about us wanting some time off, nothing else. You won't have to worry about a thing, and we'll come back better and stronger than ever. We need some time to be creative and make a new album, is the excuse" Louis told him.

“I don’t…” Liam tried to talk but another sob broke free suddenly and he shook his head, “You… I-I just-“

“Liam, why are you crying if you are alright with this?” Niall asked, voice soft and still a little scared.

“I just… I’m… honestly relieved” Liam managed to say, “And scared… as well”

“It will be alright everything is taken care of and we know the fans will wait for us” Harry told him with a gently smile.

“I love you guys… so much, like… without you…” Liam slowly started to say, suddenly feeling a little unsure.

“We love you too and we know that, love, right boys?” Louis smiled and kissed the side of Liam’s head. He was doing that a lot lately, ever since he had gotten hit there by a fan even though the cut was barely visible anymore.

“Of course, we love you, too, Liam” Niall said, pressing his face against Liam’s arm as it was the closest to him. Harry and Zayn agreed as well with Zayn taking a hold of Liam’s face and making Liam look at him, “Can you promise us something, though?”

Liam frowned a little worriedly but nodded.

“Next time you worry this much about something… tell us, even if you think it will make us unhappy and worry. We have to know what you are feeling, and we want to be able to make informed decisions whether you like them or not. This time we wanted the same thing, a break and we knew it would be better for your health, but we didn’t realise how stressed you were about it until now”

Liam sniffled, letting his eyes drop as he moved out of Zayn’s grasp, “I’m sorry”

“You need to promise us, love” Louis said softly, “And you need to stop apologising”

Liam nodded a little, “I c-can’t really… like, I can promise to try but… sometimes… I just-it’s hard, because… sometimes I get lost in… my head and I don’t… I’ll try, I promise, I’m sorry”

“That’s fair enough for now” Harry said happily.

“Can we get some food now and then take a nap?” Niall asked after a few seconds of silence with a yawn, suddenly sitting up.

Liam smiled even though he didn’t really feel like moving after all the emotions he had felt in the last few minutes. Harry agreed loudly, moving them all off the bed while Zayn just laughed loudly, and Louis kept his arm around Liam.

The tour ended without any other incident and the boys all agreed to go home for ten days to spend time with their families before making plans together again. While the shows had been great and Liam had been feeling more than fine during it, the flight back home was when the world came crashing down for them. It always took forever to get to Australia and they usually had at least one stop somewhere else in the world.

Liam started feeling tired and a little grumpy while they were waiting for their connection flight to London, only having to wait a short time fortunately. It didn’t occur to him what was going on until he tried to get up during the second flight to get to the bathroom. His world blacked out completely and pain shot through his skull as he managed to catch himself as he gripped the seat tightly. It passed and he managed to go to the bathroom and back. He knew what was coming so he dug through his bag to find his medication, knowing that it was better to take it sooner rather than later.

At first, he didn’t tell either of the boys, hoping that it wouldn’t get that bad on the flight yet and wishing that the medication would help. They didn’t, which surprised him as the last time he had taken them they had literally just made him sleep through everything.

Harry was asleep in the seat next to him, so he really didn’t want to wake their youngest band member. Zayn and Louis were in the row across the small hallway, both busy. Zayn was sketching, listening to music while Louis also had his headphones on and had his eyes closed. Liam knew he was awake though. Niall was sprawled out over the row behind them and seemed fast asleep as well.

Liam really didn’t want to disturb them, and he wouldn’t even know how to get their attention either. Everyone but Harry was too far away. He tried to sit through it alone for a little longer but then he remembered how the boys had stressed during the last few days that he was supposed to talk to them more, let them know how he was feeling.

He didn’t feel like talking, had one hand up holding his head already as if it was helping the pain when doing so. When his vision got blurry without him even moving his head, Liam felt a little worried, he didn’t want this to happen on a plane, plain in sight for strangers. They were in first class of course, but there were still people around and usually they didn’t really get any privacy.

He saw his hands trembling which worried him even more as he reached out to tug at Harry’s sleeve. The younger boy, still asleep, half-heartedly pushed him off and turned around a little. Liam tried again, despite feeling bad that he was waking up his friend. Harry was confused as he looked around once he had sleepily opened his eyes until he felt Liam tug at him again.

His eyes widened the second he took in Liam’s curled up position and pained expression.

“Where are your meds?” Harry worriedly asked as he sat up and turned fully towards Liam already reaching for his bag, when he saw it on the floor, the bottle of pills discarded on top of it already.

“You already took some” Harry belatedly commented, looking even more concerned when Liam softly nodded and then grimaced, curling up into himself even more.

“And it didn’t work” Harry then stated.

“Hurts so bad” Liam whimpered, pressing his eyes closed as he reached out with his hand for Harry again, feeling like his head was swimming and needing the touch to ground him.

“Shit, Li… you definitely always find the worst times for this…” Harry muttered sadly as he glanced at his watch, “We still have a few hours to go”

“Just want to go home” Liam replied, sounding scared and upset. Harry moved the armrest between them up and slid closer a little, then changed his mind and moved away, leaning over the hallway to grab Louis’ attention. The older boy startled for a second before taking in Harry’s and Liam’s expression. He quickly pulled off his headphones and nudged Zayn as he got out of his seat and went to Liam. He kneeled in front of Liam as Harry got as close to Liam as possible but with the way the seats were built it was just not as easy.

Louis gently talked to Liam who just whimpered as an answer and that was all the oldest needed to know. Since they were flying first class the seats were rather comfortable and large enough to fit them both, so he gently got Liam to get up for a second with Harry’s help. Then he reclined the seat a little and sat down himself so Liam could lie down next to him, cuddling into him. Liam was completely tense and held on to him tightly, burying his face in Louis’ chest and the older felt his shirt dampen only moments later.

“Did he take any meds yet?” Louis asked Harry in barely a whisper as he rubbed his hands up and down Liam’s back and sides, trying to comfort him.

“Yeah, did before he woke me, they are not working, though” Harry replied as Zayn came over as well and slowly but surely it was getting crowded in their row. Louis reached up to feel Liam’s forehead, then asked softly, “You think a cool cloth would help again?”

“Hm” was all Liam managed, not daring to move or actually open his mouth.

“I’ll find a stewardess and get some water as well, do you feel sick, Liam?” Zayn asked, already moving on when Liam didn’t answer. He returned shortly after with some water and a stewardess. Louis gratefully held the cold cloth against Liam’s head who sighed a little relieved. The woman promised to check in on them and told them to call for them if they needed anything else. Once they were alone again, Louis said, “Try and sleep, Li, we are here”

Harry nodded, reaching out to hold one of Liam’s hands as well, “Yeah, Li, we are here”

Liam weakly squeezed Harry’s hand which made the younger smile a little. Zayn returned to Louis’ seat, but was turned towards the hallway, keeping his attention on Liam and Louis who were not talking or moving for almost a full hour. The only evidence of pain was Liam’s expression and his tight posture. Harry fell asleep again, still holding on to Liam’s hand while Louis kept exchanging glances with Zayn. Niall was oblivious to it all as he just slept through it all and neither of the older boys dared to wake him as it would only worry him.

As they neared the end of the flight, Louis spoke up again, keeping his voice low but loud enough for Zayn to hear. Liam still flinched in his arms, though.

“We can’t put him on the flight home like this”

“Shit” Zayn said, maybe a little too loud as he had not thought about this at all. They all were supposed to separate after this, going their own ways and catching different flights to their respective hometowns. Louis nodded slowly, “Yeah, exactly, we need to figure something out when we land… I could stay with him in London until it passes, maybe? We can’t send him home on his own and we can’t just leave him in London by himself”

“I could stay as well” Zayn offered, “One or two days more or less don’t really matter”

“It’s enough if one of us is with him” Louis said, “We just need to decide who and one of us should tell Natalie what’s going on. Do you know where she is sitting?”

“A few rows back” Zayn nodded.

The both of them talked about this for a little longer until Zayn got up and informed Natalie who was still acting as their manager at the moment. She looked alarmed even though Zayn told her they had everything under control. They had it under control, until it neared landing and Liam had tears streaming down his face out of pain and started feeling nauseous. He really didn’t want to throw up, not on the flight.

The stewardess who had checked on them a few times already came and told them that they had to sit up and return to their seats just as the seatbelt sign went back on. Harry moved over to Zayn’s previous seat without being told to, making room for Louis to sit in his own seat without going too far away. Liam was struggling, barely able to keep his head upright as he gripped the seat tight, trying to stay in place. But the change in altitude and the movements of the plane made it so much harder to fight the dizziness.

Natalie was next to them the second they touched the floor, already on the phone. It was a quick call and she explained to Louis, “We got a car picking you. There are fans which might be a problem since we did not plan for you to leave the security area today and we only have airport security to get you to the car”

They got off the plane with both Louis and Zayn supporting Liam as subtly as possible but to anyone who really looked at them could see that Liam was completely out of it, only stumbling along. He was trembling and his face pale but luckily sunglasses were covering his red rimmed, glassy eyes and protecting him from the bright lights at least a little. The other three boys hugged them both tight and long, promising to call as soon as they’d land before Natalie and Louis walked with Liam between them out of the secured area. There were a few fans, trying to get pictures with them or trying to get them to stop. Louis at first just brushed them off, but they were persistent as they kept taking pictures as well as the few paparazzi did.

“Stop taking pictures” he called out as another man blocked their way just to photograph them. Louis had his arm around Liam’s waist as they were walking, and he could feel just how hard it was to walk for his friend as he kept swaying and Louis felt like he was pulling him along the whole time. At one point Liam just stopped talking and Louis could feel how the younger boy just sagged against his side and hugged him. Liam’s head dropped against his shoulder and he could feel him shake in his arms, and Louis whispered, “I’ve got you, love”

“I c-can’t” Liam whimpered, and Louis knew he was definitely crying now beneath his sunglasses. Despite that, the older one still pulled back, ignoring the fans and paparazzi around them just for a second to steady Liam, “Just a few more steps, love, you can do it”

He definitely was almost carrying Liam as they walked on, trying to push through the small crowd that had formed.

“Seriously, back off, Liam is not feeling great” he almost shouted this time and that got the fans to back off at least. In a surprising turn of events the fans even pushed the remaining paparazzi out of the way, clearing their path. Once they reached the car, Louis turned towards them, shouting a grateful, “Thanks!”

Once they were inside the car and had settled down with the driver already turning onto the road, Louis checked in with Liam again, who was curled up in his seat.

“I hate this… just… god, it hurts… just wanted to be home” Liam mumbled, not even trying to hide his tears anymore.

“We need to call your parents, or they’ll worry if you don’t show up” Louis said softly, already dialling the number. Liam didn’t reply to that, instead he curled up further, arms over his head as he buried his face in his knees.

Louis was a little surprised when it was not Karen or Geoff who answered, instead it was Ruth.

“Hey, Ruth, it’s Louis” he said and used the moment of confusion on her side to explain, “Liam got another headache on the flight. We didn’t think it’d be a good idea to let him go home alone, so I’ll stay here in London with him until it passes”

“What? Again? Louis, shit, what happened?” Ruth was a little overwhelmed.

“Nothing happened, they sometimes come out of nowhere” Louis explained, “Can you tell your parents that he won’t be home tonight as planned?”

“Yeah, of course, can I talk to him?” Ruth asked, sounding worried.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, we’ll call you tomorrow if he’s better, alright?” Louis told her with a grimace. He was trying to keep his voice low and knew that holding a conversation was the last thing Liam wanted to do at the moment.

Back at Liam’s flat in London, Louis made sure Liam was as comfortable as possible and tried to be there for him, but in the end all they could do was wait for him to fall asleep and hope the second dose of pain meds would finally do their job. The next day Liam was not faring much better. Louis didn’t let him out of bed all day and in the evening, they were discussing the fact that all Liam wanted to do was get home even if it meant a two or three hour drive while feeling dizzy and being in pain.

“Alright, fine, you win” Louis gave in after some time as he just couldn’t resist Liam when he was sad and asking for things, “I’m driving, though”

It was more a joke than anything, but both boys sighed for a second as there was no way Liam would be able to drive like this. They got everything they needed together within twenty minutes and Liam didn’t even bother changing out of the sweatpants and hoodie, hoping that no one would see them like this.

He felt like shit for most of the car ride, but it wouldn’t have been that much different if he had stayed in London either. Louis had called his mum again and this time talked to Karen to explain when they would arrive. She was glad to hear that, but also worried and told Louis that he had to stay with them for at least another day as well.

Louis hadn’t really thought further ahead than getting Liam home and Karen was probably right, he shouldn’t be driving home to his own family until the next morning at least, he was tired as well.

Geoff was just coming home from work when they pulled up in the driveway and waited for them, opening the passenger door to greet his son. Liam just blinked at him for a few seconds before grimacing and reaching up for help getting out of the car. He swayed a little and Geoff worriedly led him inside the house as Louis followed with their bags.

“Oh Liam” Karen was hugging Liam as Louis closed the door, “Have you boys eaten, yet? Are you hungry?”

“Liam has thrown everything he’s eaten since the flight back up” Louis said, setting the bags down, “I’m not sure if we should try again just yet”

“Please don’t” Liam whimpered.

“Come on, let’s get you upstairs and into bed” Geoff gently pushed Liam towards the stairs, keeping a firm hold on him as well, scared he was about to fall. In the meantime, Karen pulled Louis along into the kitchen after hugging him and thanking him, “You must be hungry, though”

“Yeah” Louis admitted and spent the next half hour in the kitchen with Karen and Ruth, filling them in on what had been going on and eating some dinner. Geoff joined them after a while, “Fell right asleep”

“Thank god” Louis sighed, “He wouldn’t sleep last night, like at all”

They chatted for a little while longer until Louis actually went upstairs early as well. Staying up with Liam and taking care of him had made him a little tired as well, not even thinking about how they usually just were exhausted after each tour. Liam wasn’t asleep when he checked on him and Louis just crawled into bed with him, “How are you feeling?”

“A little better” Liam sighed with a soft smile as he let his head drop on Louis’ shoulder, “I just want them to stop”

“Yeah, me too… “ Louis replied, “We all want you to be better”

“But…” Liam trailed off again, sounding unsure and hesitating before continuing, “What if I won’t… what if it never gets better?”

“Then we’ll still be here with you and we’ll find a way to make this easier on you” Louis promised him, arms wrapping around him and squeezing him tightly, “We’ll figure this out together, love”

Liam didn’t reply anything, but he did seem relaxed and Louis really hoped he’d eased his mind a little with this. The both of them stayed like this for a little while longer and then, without meaning to, fell asleep as well. The next morning Liam was finally feeling a lot better, though still a little unsteady on his feet. He managed to eat a light breakfast with Louis and the both of them hung out in the living room while his parents and sisters were at work. In the afternoon, Karen came home, and Louis slowly started to get ready to leave.

Liam seemed sad at that, but they would only be separated for a little over a week before meeting back up in London with the boys.

The time flew by at that, Liam’s headaches seemed to get a lot worse at first, as they happened three times during the ten days he was home and while he had his parents to take care of him, he still felt lonely, since they also had to work and couldn’t be with him the whole time. Talking on the phone to the boys also was easier said than done when it felt like his head was about to combust with each word they said.

When the time to leave came, Liam was actually reluctant to go, he loved being home, it made him feel safe and protected. In London, there were always fans and people with cameras somewhere and it was all so much more hectic. He was also dreading the check-ups he had scheduled during the first three days there as well.

He was the first to arrive at the airport, but Niall was not too far behind, so he waited for his friend before they both left the airport. The others were coming in a few hours after them and it gave them the time to just hang out in Liam’s flat and relax a little. They spent most of their time during the first day with talking, eating, and playing video games. It had been a long time since they just could enjoy each other’s company without having to worry about anything. The second day they left the building and regretted it as soon as they were spotted by fans and chased around a little. They ran into the nearest underground station and fled by hopping on the one that was leaving next. The fans were not stupid and were already waiting at the next station. After they escaped them, they did a little shopping and returned back to the flat rather quickly. During the evening, they all cooked dinner together and it was an outright mess.

The third morning started with another headache. Liam had an appointment with a specialist around noon which Louis tried to cancel once he saw the state Liam was in when he was about to wake him. The receptionist told him to bring Liam in anyway and somehow Liam ended up having to stay there for two more days as they were running tests and monitoring the whole thing happening. Liam was not happy about that and when he finally was released, he was just completely devastated and defeated.

Neither of the boys managed to cheer him up as they usually could and two days later, the four of them stayed up a way past Liam to talk. They already had two weeks off and it seemed to be getting worse, not better as they had hoped.

“I’m still calling a vacation, somewhere without people” Harry raised his hand first, “Even if it doesn’t help his headache he might finally relax fully”

“I’m in, but I don’t think it will help” Zayn shrugged.

“Worth a try at least” Niall said.

Louis nodded and the four of them spent the next two hours deciding on a destination and booking the flights and accommodation. Liam was completely shell shocked when he was woken up the next morning with the words, “Get up and pack, we are going on vacation”

“What?” Liam asked, unable to grasp what was going on.

“We booked a vacation last night. Beach, water, bungalow, and all that. We can even surf, come on, get up” Louis was pulling at him and not taking no for an answer.

While Liam didn’t have a clue what was happening, he somehow found himself on some beach in a foreign country later in the afternoon after having hopped on a flight, barely awake. There were a few private bungalows on the beach and a town a little further away and Liam was still confused with what had happened.

Harry had barely let him text his family before getting everyone’s phone and putting them in a box with the words, “No phones, no laptops, no nothing. We are offline for the whole time we are here, well, apart from the PlayStation, but that’s entertainment”

Neither of the other boys had been happy about it but had agreed. The first thing all of them did was get changed and get into the water. It was nearing the evening, but they used all of what was left of the daylight before retreating inside to have dinner and play games together. While they all stayed up half the night, Liam and Louis were awake as soon as the sun came up and were running into the sea to catch some waves.

After a late breakfast which was more of a lunch once Zayn and Niall had decided to wake up the five of them went to the beach again, playing football and volleyball when they were not in the water. By the end of it, Harry, Niall, and Liam were completely sunburnt. Zayn and Louis had just tanned a little and were enjoying the others pain a little too much if you asked Liam.

The following morning each of them woke up early and they went to the town to do some grocery shopping and stumbled upon some bikes they could rent. Despite Louis and Harry complaining that they couldn’t care less about seeing anything but the view from their house all five of them took a little tour which ended up taking the whole day. Louis was sore and grumpy in the evening as he was the one out of the group that usually worked out the least. He was fit enough, so he really couldn’t think of anything worse than going to the gym and working out, it was the complete opposite from Liam, who was happy to do so.

Liam and him were bickering all day and it actually made the younger feel so much happier than before. It had been a while since they had the space to just be spontaneous and have fun without having to worry. There was no time to make fun of each other or just joke around while they were doing press, especially lately since they all had been hyper aware of everything that has been happening.

The fourth day ended with a bonfire by the beach as Liam and Louis were still out in the sea surfing, despite the sunlight already fading. Harry was starting to worry, and it was the only reason that got the both of them out of the water. They still sat around the fire, the temperature warm enough for them to not even need to change. Somehow Niall, Liam and Louis ended up fighting in the sand just half an hour later, fake wrestling, yelling, and shouting. They ended up falling asleep outside in the sand.

Before they knew it, the week was up and as neither of them was ready to return to the rest of the world, Harry made a few desperate calls and changed their flights while renting the bungalow for just a few more days.

After these days were up as well and they were all sitting on the plane back to London, they were content and felt a little more ready to face everything. They sat down with Natalie and discussed their future plans. With her they agreed on two more days off before they were supposed to go into the studio to start trying to write and record their new album.

The schedule after that was a little more complicated as they still couldn’t really plan for Liam’s headaches. He didn’t have one since he had his last appointment where they kept him to monitor him and it felt weird. Almost two weeks with nothing after ten days filled with agony.

The four other boys were adamant though, they didn’t budge with their request to do less press and interviews. Niall asked for longer breaks while Zayn said that they would not do anything like their last press tour in Europe again, where they simply didn’t sleep for three days as they spent each night on a plane and had a full schedule during the days.

Harry explained how they needed a day off in between shows every now and then to relive the stress.

It was a fight to get these things approved and even after that, their schedule was still tight and stressful. It should be easier than before though and the boys agreed.

Liam was uncomfortable with all this and was more than happy with the compromise Natalie suggested. She wanted them to do a few interviews during the next weeks they still had off theoretically.

The managed to settle on doing a few live streams with no interviews where they could chose the questions the fans were sending in and where they had more freedom over the time and place as well.

The next headache surprised Liam more than anyone in the band as everything had been going so well. They had grown a little bored during their first week back in London and had gone into the studio for a few hours two days in a row. On the second day, when they got back home, they decided to do one of the live chats they were supposed to do. It was actually fun since it was just them, chatting to the fans and answering questions. No one was there to tell them what to do and no one seemed to mind when Louis left in the middle of it to make himself some tea. Niall got bored for a while and started kicking around a football in the background. Zayn just sat in the corner drawing and wasn’t told to interact or stop being rude. They didn’t mind that you couldn’t edit it or delete if since it was live. It was definitely much more to their liking than the staged interviews that always were more work than fun.

They liked it enough to do it every other day from then on which was pleasing both their management and label while they actually got to talk to the fans more which they were happy about as well. Liam and Harry were the most professional during this and answered seriously while Niall and Louis mostly turned into goofballs, sometimes corrupting Liam, and Zayn as well.

After another day in the studio during their second week off, they started another live stream. Liam was sitting at the table in his flat in the middle between Zayn and Harry while Louis was sitting cross-legged on the table, only halfway visible to the camera with Niall opposite him, mirroring his position. They were both playing cards, not paying attention to the live stream while the other three were handling it. Liam sometimes directed some questions at them which they answered while Zayn didn’t even respond, engrossed in a book. He was sitting slouched in his chair, turned to the side with his legs crossed up on the table behind Niall’s back. The live stream was basically Liam and Harry chatting to each other.

It was not too long into the live stream when Liam started to feel a familiar pounding behind his eyes as Harry was telling a story while Liam was looking for the next question in the chat. The words started to blur into each other, and he tried to focus his eyes again. As he squinted and read of another question for Harry, he could feel the nausea coming on as well. It was happening again, and Liam definitely started to panic while at the same time trying not to let on what was happening.

He managed to ask Louis another question as well which ended with him and Harry bickering while Niall laughed loudly. The volume literally hurt, and Liam couldn’t bare looking at the screen with the questions and comments anymore. As subtly as possible he nudged Zayn as he slowly stood up. He needed to get away from the camera. Zayn only looked at him confused, having been too distracted by his book to know what Liam wanted.

Liam who was now standing could feel himself slipping and he heard Zayn’s book drop to the floor before his hands were on him.

“Shit, Liam” Zayn called out as he steadied Liam, whose eyes were fluttering already, his face suddenly a few shades paler than minutes before. Louis dropped his cards as well, before the others could react and jumped off the table, walking around Harry and grabbing Liam’s arm as Zayn stood up.

“His head?” Niall looked at Harry worriedly as Zayn and Louis got Liam to sit down on a chair a little further away.

“Yeah…” Harry got up as well to follow them and Niall scrambled behind him.

“Are you just dizzy or is it the pain already?” Louis asked softly, kneeling once again in front of Liam, looking at him while Zayn had his hands on Liam’s shoulder, steadying him.

“Headache first…” Liam whimpered, obviously in pain, “Didn’t get… dizzy until… oh god… shit… it hasn’t… I didn’t think… I can’t keep…”

Liam was still freaking out a little, not having expected it and secretly having hoped that maybe finally things were getting better. Louis took his hands gently.

“I’ll get his meds” Harry whispered and left, Niall right behind him.

“Don’t panic, love, it’s going to be fine. We are still waiting on the results from that specialist and you promised you wouldn’t freak out over this until we know more. They said they might be able to help you” Louis told Liam softly, “And that was the longest you’ve gone without an episode for a while which is good”

Liam sniffled a little, “But… I just… I thought it was better… it got so bad at first and…”

“If the time in between gets longer it is getting better, a little at least” Zayn replied thoughtfully.

Niall and Harry were back with his pills and some water, which Liam took gratefully.

“Let’s get you to bed… or the sofa at least so you can lie down” Zayn suggested when he saw how upset Liam still was. He knew that Liam hated how these things completely impacted and changed his life, putting it to a stop.

Louis and Zayn got Liam up and took the few steps over to the sofa where Louis sat down on one side and Zayn helped Liam lie down as well, his head in Louis’ lap. Niall quickly followed them, climbing over Liam to lie down spooning Liam and wrapped his arm around Liam with a sigh as he cuddled him close.

“Harry?” Louis asked softly, trying to keep his voice low, “Can you text Ruth? Karen wanted to know when it happens again”

Harry nodded and did as told while walking over to the windows and blocking the lights out as much as possible, before stopping halfway through, “She’s already calling. I’ll be right back”

“Call Natalie afterwards, tell her that we won’t be in the studio tomorrow” Niall told him as well.

“You guys can still go. I can stay home with Li” Louis replied.

“No way, you keep hogging Liam, it’s not fair!” Niall growled.

“Well, you are the first to flee when he gets sick from the pain” Louis shrugged with a little smirk, “And everyone knows I’m Liam’s favourite”

Meanwhile Zayn had disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and returned with a cool cloth for Liam’s head. Before that he finished darkening the room and sat on the edge of the sofa where only little space was left with Liam and Niall occupying it.

“Stop fighting and keep your voices low” Zayn scolded them as he gently moved Liam’s hair out of the way and placed the cloth over Liam’s forehead, then said, “We are either all going or all staying home”

“Home, then” Louis and Niall simultaneously said.

Zayn nodded, getting back up, “I’ll tell Harry and call Natalie with him”

Louis, Niall, and Liam sat in silence for a while until Niall whispered, “He’s trembling, should I get a blanket?”

His eyes were wide as he looked up at Louis who frowned as Liam whimpered, “N-no, hurts”

Louis sighed, as he told Niall, “Get the soft sweater from his room, the one we bought the other week”

“Why?” Niall asked but he was already climbing over Liam again as he did what Louis said.

“Should be easy on his skin, not irritate as much” Louis explained once he returned with the piece of clothing.

“That’d be good, before it gets worse and he won’t let us touch him again” Niall replied as him and Louis quickly got Liam out of his shirt and into the sweater. Liam immediately cuddled into it which must mean that it must feel nicer. Niall resumed his previous position again and they sat in silence for a little while longer until Louis saw the first tear escape Liam’s eye and he wiped it away gently, exchanging a few concerned glances with Niall.

It didn’t get any better during the next five minutes and that usually was the time window the meds needed to either work and knock him out or fail.

“That’s going to be a bad one, isn’t it?” Niall asked as Liam started to move around, almost writhing in pain as the time frame had passed. Louis glanced at his watch and nodded, “Liam? How’s your head?”

Liam just whimpered, unable to form any words as he gripped his head painfully.

“Stop that, love” Louis whispered softly as each, him and Niall took one of Liam’s hands to stop him from hurting himself. It’s happened before that he had left light bruises on himself.

It took a lot out of Liam, but he managed to breathe out, “Lou…”

“Yeah, love, right here” Louis replied, squeezing his hand gently.

“’s… bad” Liam mumbled, sounding anything but alright.

“I know, love, tell us if you feel sick” Louis nodded empathetically.

Liam just let a few more tears escape his eyes instead of answering.

Neither of them said anything for a while until the door was suddenly thrown open harshly as Harry and Zayn rushed inside and over to where they had held the livestream. They scrambled around for a few seconds before Harry just closed the laptop and Zayn grabbed it and placed it in another room, just to be sure. Harry looked at the other three breathlessly as he stated, “We didn’t turn it off”

Liam who had violently flinched as the door had been thrown open and turned his face to hide against Louis’ thigh hadn’t moved from his spot until then. Neither had time to work through what just happened as Liam shot up, mumbling that he was going to be sick and chaos ensued again.

It was almost an hour later when they all were settled on Liam’s bed, with Liam in the middle cuddled between Zayn and Louis fast asleep that Niall could ask, “Did we really livestream that whole thing?”

Zayn nodded, looking upset, “They heard everything and saw the sofa, so everything but the two minutes we were out of shot when he took his meds”

“We are so stupid” Niall groaned as the others agreed.

“Natalie was pissed” Harry added, “But we just hung up on her to shut it off and never called her back”

“Great, another mess to deal with” Louis sighed, then he schooled his expression, though, “I mean… it was a good two weeks without any incidents, so maybe they are getting less…”

“Somehow it just doesn’t feel good to know that since he is still hurting right now” Harry said softly, “We just got back in the studio and it starts again… what if… what if it’s work, the band that causes all this?”

“That’s exactly what I’m scared of as well” Louis muttered, glancing at Liam to make sure he is still asleep. Neither of the boys replied, though because when Louis was worried about something, then it usually was worth worrying about.

Liam woke back up not even two hours later and started throwing up again. He was oblivious to the drama going on in the media due to their live stream for two whole days while he worked through the migraine. Once he found out, he took the time to watch the video, have a whole mental breakdown over it and then apologised on twitter to everyone who had to watch it as if it was his fault. Afterwards he promised his fans he was alright, which no one seemed to believe until he posted a picture of him and the boys back in the studio.

Things went on like this for a few more weeks. He had a few more appointments and started some treatments with medication that were somehow supposed to help him get better but didn't so far. The boys held off another tour for as long as possible, spreading out the promo as long as their label let them and even then, they were reluctant. Liam knew he was holding the band back with his medical issues and was the one to actually yell at them to just get it over with. His choice of words immediately sparked a whole new conversation but, in the end, they agreed to the tour.

It was not as bad as the last one, the headaches were more spread out and he finally had found a medication that was working the best for him.

Their first real interview while they were doing promo, wasn’t easy. His headaches were a big part of it and the journalists and interviewer didn’t really care as they sometimes asked insensitive questions or talked about rather private things. It was as if the fact that they had accidentally revealed how the band handled his condition privately, gave them a free pass to just ask whatever they wanted. There were more than a few times where Liam was feeling uncomfortable and stuttered his way through answers.

The fans have become a little more sensitive, backing off whenever one of the boys told them that Liam was unwell. They never used it as an excuse, only if they really needed it since they knew the second, they abused that trust it would backfire.

As the time flew by, so did Liam’s headaches and gradually they did get less and less. At first, he didn’t even notice it, not until Niall sat down next to him with a wide grin, “I just realised you didn’t have a headache in almost six weeks now”

Liam had been completely surprised and delighted as he did the maths to check whether Niall was right. He was and it felt great. While things weren’t easy, they were bearable and, after a few more months, Liam didn’t spend most of his time scared of another headache or another wave of vertigo hitting him, he was able to enjoy life a little more again.

While it would never go away fully and he was really struggling, when the pain got to him, he definitely knew how to handle it and with the other four boys by his side, he knew he could get through them.

The boys all were home a lot more which made their families and themselves a lot happier as well. The fact that they were taking more time off and working less did not hurt their careers in the slightest, no, it seemed, that the fans liked them more when they were well rested and relaxed. It didn’t matter that there was less content for them because it was better content. All of them could feel how much it helped to actually have experiences to write songs about instead of imagining them as they had before where they didn’t have the time to do so.

A year later, the boys were on presumably the high of their lives, their careers were going crazy and their private life was almost even better. They all were happy, well, for the most part. It was still a crazy, hectic life and they didn’t always see eye to eye regarding the band, but they knew they could rely on each other and trusted each other. They loved it either way and Liam still loved the boys the most out of everything that ever has happened to him. They were his rock and the reason he was able to do what he was doing each day.


End file.
